Filmology Rating: 1.5 out of 4

After reviewing films like Dirty Grandpa, Masterminds, and The Boss last year I just felt dread walking into The Comedian.  I couldn’t decide if I didn’t have a funny bone in my body or if the films themselves simply weren’t funny, it’s a struggle that I have every time while watching a comedy.  

Jackie Burke, played by Robert De Niro, is an old sitcom star who is trying to make a new living doing stand-up shock comedy.  Burke’s life is quickly sent off the rails when he has to do community service after physically assaulting a guest at a comedy club.   

I need to state this before I get into more of my thoughts on the film; I hate shock comedy.  I don’t find anything funny about insulting or humiliating your audience, I find it disrespectful, offensive, and in bad taste.  I tried my best to not let the type of comedy color my view on the film,  but I still feel that I should be straightforward about my feelings toward certain aspects of the film.  I can’t say that I’m surprised Robert De Niro was in this movie, the last good performance he gave in a movie was The Intern in 2015 and since then he has seemed to just do movies for a quick paycheck.  While The Comedian doesn’t offer the worst De Niro performance in his past five films it still seems like he is sleepwalking his way to a paycheck.  De Niro’s glory days are well behind him,  but you still can’t help but want him to do better things with his life.  

This movie was two hours long, I cannot imagine anyone willingly sitting for two hours watching this bore.  The fault for this tedious and unfunny comedy/drama has to be laid at the feet of the writer’s: Art Linson, who also wrote What Just Happened, Jeffrey Ross, who himself is a comedian, Richard LaGravenese, who also wrote The Fisher King, and Lewis Friedman, who wrote An American Carol.  So basically you have a team of writers who lack talent or have at least yet to prove it working on a significant project.  I would argue that the film should have focused on the drama of Jackie’s life in the vile comedy that he is telling.   

Every movie is subjective to people, some people like certain things,  while others detest them; however comedies have to be the most subjective genre.  I personally love darker comedies like Dr. Strangelove and Seven Psychopaths while some people might love a frat comedy like Van Wilder or Old School.  Everyone has a different taste but I think everyone will agree that The Comedian is never funny nor does it’s drama ever pay off in a meaningful way.

Rating: Skip It

-Jonny G