--- title: "The King of Comedy: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-king-of-comedy/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-king-of-comedy" critics_score: 66 critics_reviews: 12 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The King of Comedy (1982): what the critics said Critics' score 66 from 12 reviews: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 3 negative. Most critics come down in favour, though the spread is unusually wide. The praise gathers around the two leads: Robert De Niro’s needy, obnoxious Rupert Pupkin, played without a flicker of charm, and Jerry Lewis’s dead-eyed, self-protective star, which more than one review thinks comes close to stealing the film. Later critics admire how far ahead of its time the film’s view of fame and delusion now looks, and several note that its deadpan, locked-down style, mimicking the television it depicts, is the point rather than a failing. The reservations cluster around emptiness. The three negative notices are all from the film’s first release: The New Yorker finds it enervating and its characters repellent, RogerEbert.com faults it for withholding any emotional release, and Variety objects to unlikeable characters who stand for nothing. Empire sits in the middle, calling it an interesting misfire that is neither funny nor frightening enough. The reviews written since are consistently warmer. ## Radio Times — Andrew Collins Rating 5/5. It's an unsung masterpiece, with powerful complex performances from De Niro and Lewis, blending farce and tragedy in a strange Scorsese-De Niro collaboration. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-wuv4bm/the-king-of-comedy/) ## Time Out — PT Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 6 January 2012. The critic finds it the creepiest and one of the best movies of the year, praising its unsettling excesses and De Niro's performance as a delusional fantasist, while noting it's hilariously not a comedy. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-king-of-comedy) ## Los Angeles Times — Mark Chalon Smith Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 5 November 1992. The re-release review calls the film a hilarious and smart riff on American celebrity culture as a form of salvation, praising De Niro's loopy, committed turn as the obsessive Pupkin and Lewis's liberated, creepy caricature of a self-protective star. It highlights the wild escalation of Pupkin's fantasies and schemes as the core appeal. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-05-ol-1357-story.html) ## The AV Club — Mike D'Angelo Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 22 August 2013. The film marks an unconventional departure for Scorsese and De Niro, with De Niro delivering an obnoxious, pathetic performance as the needy Rupert Pupkin and Scorsese using a flat, locked-down style mimicking TV programming. It offers a bold, prescient look at how the desire for fame and adulation can warp people, ending with a coda that now seems entirely credible. [Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-king-of-comedy-was-a-departure-for-both-martin-scor-1798240195) ## The Guardian Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 18 February 2023. The critic views the film as a dry, painful comedy about ambition and celebrity obsession, with Robert De Niro's scheming mediocrity as the central focus. It singles out the film's deadpan style and prescient take on fame for praise. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/feb/18/the-king-of-comedy-at-40-martin-scorseses-painful-ode-to-the-wannabe) ## The New York Times — Vincent Canby Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 18 February 1983. Canby calls the film very funny and satisfying in its surprise ending, with an original screenplay that is witty even in its fantasy sequences. He highlights De Niro's complex, flamboyant performance as the standout element. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/18/movies/unusual-kidnapping.html) ## Empire — Adam Smith Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. The critic describes the film as an interesting misfire that sits awkwardly between black comedy and thriller, neither funny nor scary enough to fully succeed in either mode. They praise Scorsese's scene-making skills and single out Jerry Lewis's intense, dead-eyed performance as the standout element that nearly eclipses De Niro. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/king-comedy-review/) ## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 15 May 1983. Ebert finds the film an arid, painful portrait of lonely, angry people that frustratingly withholds emotional release or payoff. He praises the committed performances, especially by De Niro and Lewis, and sees it as a bold departure for Scorsese. [Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-king-of-comedy-1983) ## The New Yorker — Pauline Kael Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 28 February 1983. The critic finds the film deliberately quiet, empty, and enervating, presenting its central characters as soulless and repellent without generating empathy or emotional charge. It singles out Jerry Lewis's authentic, economical performance as the one element with weight and believability amid the overall visual chill and punishing scorn. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1983/03/07/jokers) ## Variety — Variety Staff Rating **. 31 December 1982. The review deems the film a royal disappointment despite De Niro's virtuoso performance, criticizing the unlikable characters who stand for nothing. It notes Bernhard as slightly more pathetic but faults the overall lack of substance. [Read the review](https://variety.com/1982/film/reviews/the-king-of-comedy-1200425395/) ## Den of Geek — Tony Sokol Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 8 October 2019. The critic examines the film as an underrated Scorsese-De Niro classic whose themes of delusion, fame-seeking and blurred reality feel especially prescient today. He praises Scorsese's impressionistic direction and the way the film renders modern celebrity culture through its central performances. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-king-of-comedy-martin-scorsese/) ## The Skinny — MD Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 3 February 2017. The piece calls the film a pitch-black comedy ahead of its time whose deadpan tone and humiliations create discomfort, with De Niro delivering a banal yet terrifying performance as the entitled Pupkin. It notes the film's final moments now read as documentary rather than delusion. [Read the review](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/opinion/reassessing-martin-scorseses-legacy) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-king-of-comedy.md