BEFORE: Well, that's two films down in the New Year, just 298 to go. Here comes #3, with Danny DeVito carrying over from "Matilda". It seems I've already got a loose theme for the week developing, I'll elaborate more after watching today's film.
THE PLOT: A look at the life of an aging insult comic.
AFTER: I didn't plan this, not intentionally anyway, perhaps subconsciously, but the New Year is usually symbolized by a baby or small child, and the old year represented by an old man, like a Father Time character. Knowing what's coming up in the next two days, I think this whole week is going to be about young kids and old men - "Matilda" is my Baby New Year, and De Niro's Jackie Burke is my Father Time. Pee-Wee Herman, meanwhile, represents that weird man-child, he's probably getting on in years too, but continues to act like a giddy schoolboy.
But I'll take things a step further - since it's a New Year, we have to think about new horizons, new challenges, facing our fears as we set foot into another great unknown, the year which so far has been neither good nor bad. (In terms of movie plots, I've had two sort of disjointed films that were all over the place with their story, so things have bound to get better.) Pee-Wee decided to leave Fairville and head for New York, unsure of what life on the road would be like, or whether or not he'd get to his destination in time. Matilda faced the challenge of school after surviving neglect, and had to face her fear of the principal and out-think her parents in order to get the life she felt she deserved. And now we've got Jackie Burke, an older comic trying to stay relevant, and funny, in a world of viral videos, texting and "webisodes".
The trouble starts when people interrupt his comedy routine solely for the purpose of creating their own content - they're professional hecklers, trying to start something in public for their own "content". Jackie doesn't take this well - nor should he - but he overreacts and gets in trouble with the law. Great, another celebrity scandal - but at least this time it's just a comic decking a fan. I'm with Jackie on this one, there's no way taping a comic's routine with a phone camera is legal - the comedy club should have shut this down on the spot, or at least have signs posted that this is against the rules.
But Jackie does his time, then gets saddled with community service hours, and has to fight his way back from cultural exile while also taking anger management therapy (which we never see, that sort of seems like a missed opportunity...). He meets Harmony, a neurotic woman (that's right in Leslie Mann's wheelhouse) who's also working at the soup kitchen, who got violent with her cheating ex. This is not a terrible portrayal of how two damaged people can come together in that "two wrongs make a right" way.
But Jackie can't stop being Jackie, he can't "turn off" the insult humor, even when meeting Harmony's father, or saying a few words at his niece's wedding. It's fascinating to see him walk that very fine line between off-color comedy and being flat-out offensive. Don Rickles, Roseanne Barr and Jeffrey Ross (who co-wrote this screenplay) are probably the best examples of people in the real world who've performed on that very narrow tightrope. But this is who this fictional comic is, this is what he does, and he's good at it, and quick with a snappy comeback.
And this is what De Niro's good at, too - Jackie Burke is like a mix of his characters Rupert Pupkin from "The King of Comedy", Jake LaMotta from "Raging Bull" (in the later on-stage years), and Travis Bickle from "Taxi Driver", with a little bit of Jimmy Doyle from "New York, New York", and the hard edge of Jack Byrnes from "Meet the Parents" and the zaniness of Harry Tuttle from "Brazil". Basically throw any time De Niro didn't play a mobster into a blender, and you'd come up with Jackie Burke. But the end result is somehow even better than the sum of its parts, because he's hilarious, outspoken and willing to face his fears and take on those new challenges.
The less I say about the plot in the second half the better, but it did seem that the writers sort of painted themselves into a corner and had no real plan for getting out of it.
Also starring Robert De Niro (last seen in "Dirty Grandpa"), Leslie Mann (last seen in "Orange County"), Harvey Keitel (last seen in "The Ridiculous 6"), Edie Falco (last seen in "Random Hearts"), Patti Lupone (last seen in "Summer of Sam"), Cloris Leachman (last seen in "Spanglish"), Lois Smith (last seen in "The Nice Guys"), Charles Grodin (last seen in "Ishtar"), Lucy DeVito, Kelly McCrann, Happy Anderson, Rebecca Kling, Gameela Wright, with cameos from Brett Butler, Billy Crystal (last heard in "Monsters University"), Jim Norton, Jimmie Walker (last seen in "The Concorde...Airport '79"), Richard Belzer (last seen in "The Bonfire of the Vanities"), Gilbert Gottfried (last heard in "Thumbelina"), Hannibal Buress (also last seen in "The Nice Guys"), Nick Di Paolo, Jessica Kirson, Bill Boggs, John Lutz (last seen in "Sisters"), Greer Barnes, Sheng Wang, Ryan Hamilton.
RATING: 6 out of 10 autographed photos
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