Why "The King of Comedy" Made Us Reevaluate Jerry Lewis as an Actor

Scene from The King of Comedy

It's a premise that movies have done to death. The idea of making a comedian play a "serious role," or against type, has the potential to reach surreal levels that reflects the pain underneath their comedy. Actors like Jim Carrey and Robin Williams would get plenty of credit for it later on. However, there were few whose performances are on par with Jerry Lewis' role in director Martin Scorsese's 1982 satire The King of Comedy. Lewis may have been playing a comedian as the Johnny Carson-esque Jerry Langford, but he's the film's dramatic core, of which separates audiences from the deranged Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), who tries to get on his show. Over the course of the film, Lewis gives a performance that doesn't only play against type, but shows a complicated side to the clownish actor that may say a lot about him, but mostly proves that he was capable of more than slapstick.

Theory Thursday: "The King of Comedy" is Scorsese's Most Important Film

Robert De Niro in The King of Comedy

Welcome to a weekly column called Theory Thursdays, which will be released every Thursday and discuss my "controversial opinion" related to something relative to the week of release. Sometimes it will be birthdays while others is current events or a new film release. Whatever the case may be, this is a personal defense for why I disagree with the general opinion and hope to convince you of the same. While I don't expect you to be on my side, I do hope for a rational argument. After all, film is a subjective medium and this is merely just a theory that can be proven either way. 

The Directors Project: #3 - Martin Scorsese

Scene from Cinema Paradiso

With the many lists and essays written on the subject of film, there has been one thing that The Oscar Buzz has tried to understand: Who is my favorite of the film world? For 10 weeks this summer, I will be exploring this with a countdown of the Top 50 names based on a numerical ranking of ratings from various sources, the following is a list of directors who rank above everyone else. With occasional upsets, this is intended as both a discussion opener as well as a better understanding of me as a film critic and fan. Please enjoy and leave any comments you have regarding the entry's selection.