Synopsis
An aging comic icon, Jackie Burke, has seen better days. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself and his comic genius, the audience only wants to know him as the former television character he once played. Already a strain on his younger brother and his wife, Jackie is forced to serve out a sentence doing community service for accosting an audience member. While there, he meets Harmony, the daughter of a sleazy Florida real estate mogul, and the two find inspiration in one another, resulting in surprising consequences.
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Cast
- Robert De NiroJackie Burke
- Leslie MannHarmony Schiltz
- Danny DeVitoJimmy Berkowitz
- Edie FalcoMiller
- Harvey KeitelMac Schiltz
- Charles GrodinDick D'Angelo
- Patti LuPoneFlorence Berkowitz
- Cloris LeachmanMay Conner
- Veronica FerresKarola
- Lois SmithMiriam
Recommendations
- 60
The Guardian
The storyline does get frayed towards the end...but that’s not really the point; as long as you’re here for the dick jokes. - 60
The Hollywood Reporter
The acting in the film is outstanding down to some of the smallest parts, and here director Taylor Hackford (who hasn’t had a major hit in several years) deserves considerable credit for guiding these performers. - 50
TheWrap
You’ll come away from this film remembering some of the better moments, and a few of the quieter interactions between the characters, but they’ll be mostly overpowered by the stench of everything else. - 50
Variety
Even with a bona fide icon at its center, The Comedian doesn’t dig deep enough to add anything substantial to the subgenre. - 50
The Playlist
There is a sense of exhaustive familiarity that permeates throughout Taylor Hackford’s new dramedy The Comedian. - 50
Los Angeles Times
De Niro’s scenes with Mann glow with warmth and wit, but something in his performance clenches up whenever Jackie gets behind a microphone and starts railing about masturbation, incontinence and other below-the-waist targets. - 50
Rolling Stone
It plays like an opportunity missed. - 42
The Film Stage
The Comedian might have been salvageable if the namesake character were, you know, funny. But not only is this not the case, the film makes Jackie’s stage presence even more grating by insisting with every frame that he’s brilliant.
