The Comedian

Dir. Taylor Hackford

120 Minutes

USA

2016

Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Danny Devito, Harvey Keitel, Charlie Grodin, Cloris Leachman, Patti LuPone

*/*****

Once upon a time, in a far far better movie than The Comedian, Robert De Niro played the would-be comic Rupert Pupkin who kidnaps his idol as a pathway to success. If that success led to the character of Jackie Burke, than its a shame that Pupkin wasn't put away longer. The Comedian is a terrible, unguided, unfocused, and horribly edited "comedy," filled with a cast that must surely be doing favors for someone else involved, and assembled together from what is most likely several hours of raw material that come together to barely form a narrative. De Niro gives a committed performance in something that has been noted to be a "passion project" in the works for nearly ten years, but while there is clearly ambition present it is also neither funny nor multi-dimensional. The Comedian flounders in its own desire to be edgy and have punch, becoming an overlong nightmare by the time the second hour rolls around.

De Niro plays Jackie Burke, an insult comedian who met massive success on the hit sitcom "Eddie's Home," where he played a disgruntled husband known for his catch-phrase "Arlene!!!" (so it's kind of a cross between Don Rickles, Henny Youngman, and Jackie Gleason. . . ?) The show has consumed Jackie's public perception, and he is unable to go anywhere without someone asking him to "do Eddie" (I think Larry David came up with that one on an episode ofCurb. . .). It gets him into trouble during a set when he has a physical altercation with a heckler, a confrontaion that immediately goes viral and lands him in jail for thirty days and one hundred hours of community service. The time in prison puts him in the news, but the community service allows him to meet Harmony (Leslie Mann), struggling herself after assaulting an ex-boyfriend. The two form an unlikely relationship, and Jackie spends the next few days navigating between the coupling, his exasperated agent (Edie Falco) looking for gigs, Harmony's unhappy mobster father (Harvey Keitel), and his weary but accepting brother (Danny DeVito) and his weary and unaccepting sister-in-law (Patti LuPone).

The film really has no plot to speak of, content in these short scenes of interactions between Jackie and someone else, their relationship being cemented through blunt exposition instead of subtly. Being that the bulk of the action is Jackie navigating around New York, it also allows for a series of name-dropping cameos that offer nothing except for a chance for the audience to briefly exclaim "Oh look, it's such-and-such" (a senseless scene in an elevator between Jackie and Billy Crystal may be one of the worst offenders, completely slowing down any forward momentum the slim narrative possibly has). Much of it feels very similar toWhat Just Happened?, another joint venture between De Niro and Linson, though that film actually went through the trouble to build characters out of the cameos and director Barry Levinson did a far better job weeding through the multitude of material. 

The two threads that form the most narrative satisfaction are Jackie's comeback and the romance between Jackie and Harmony. However, while the former is uncompelling simply because there are no real stakes to be had (Jackie does not seem to care very much, so why should the audience?), the latter, which takes up a large portion of both the running time and Jackie's emotions, feels forced in as a way to provide Jackie with some necessary pathos. De Niro and Mann have a somewhat decent rapport, but at times she is clearly shafted under De Niro's overbearing character, larger than life to an annoying fault. It would help if some of the one-liners were actually funny, but several of them just flounder, as if Jackie is trying out all of his worst material on the people around him to see if it sticks (which is actually a kind of clever notion, but it makes an already long movie feel longer and even more intolerable). 

By the time the narrative shifts gears and travels south to Florida, it is shocking to discover that only a little over an hour has gone by, and Hackford is nowhere near finished shoving down a few more horrible sequences down the audiences throat. In particular, a painful several minutes where Jackie subjects a group of senior citizens to a group song where he replaces the lyrics to "Making Whoopie" with "Poopie." Funny, really. . . 

Hackford is clearly assembling a movie from a large assortment of material, a common pratfall when gathering together as many improv comcis as the film does (and several test screenings, and reports of a running time nearly two and a half hours at one time clearly point to a movie being built more in the editing room than on the page), and one would hope this is the best that he could pick out from it. However, there are moments where one can see the potentials of a stronger movie. De Niro is clearly interested in the role and brings a level of commitment that has been missing from any of his recent work that does not involve David O. Russell. He is clearly outshined by DeVito, who, despite often being seen naked, sweating, and doused in his own vomit on something like "Always Sunny" (and, frankly, he excels at that), reminds people here of his range and genuine emotion. This is probably the actors finest moment since Solitary Man from a few years back. Here he approaches his interactions with Jackie combining a nice mix of earned frustration and exhausted love. He will quickly swear at Jackie, but also sign a check over to his brother when he is in need of money. Edie Falco is also a shining presence despite limited screen time, treating Jackie with a resigned respect. Her natural talent allows her to make due with an underwritten part.

The Comedian goes for the happy ending, which would be fine if anyone actually cared whether or not these characters end up happy. An epilogue provides a brief smile from the delivery, but the joke is over the top and an obvious way to put on cap on things (unsurprising considering the material prior). This is just simply a bad movie, a movie about a comic without any laughs, a character study without an interesting character, and an ensemble piece with a group of actors that just look uncomfortable even being there. 

December 22nd, 2016