<em>The Comedian</em> Is a Laugh-Free Nightmare
The screen legend Robert De Niro plays a grumpy standup in Taylor Hackford’s interminable new film.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: There are some standup comedians out there (many of them irascible men) who dare to talk about their sex lives, their anger issues, and their various inadequacies on stage—often while using a lot of bad language. Further, the friendly sitcom stars of our youth, whom we know best as sanitized parent figures accompanied by a hearty laugh track, actually tend to be flawed individuals in real life. If all of this is news to you, then you may find to be a revolutionary piece of art.
