40
Metascore
37 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 60The GuardianLanre BakareThe GuardianLanre BakareThe storyline does get frayed towards the end...but that’s not really the point; as long as you’re here for the dick jokes.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe 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.
- 50TheWrapAlonso DuraldeTheWrapAlonso DuraldeYou’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.
- 50VarietyGeoff BerkshireVarietyGeoff BerkshireEven with a bona fide icon at its center, The Comedian doesn’t dig deep enough to add anything substantial to the subgenre.
- 50The PlaylistGregory EllwoodThe PlaylistGregory EllwoodThere is a sense of exhaustive familiarity that permeates throughout Taylor Hackford’s new dramedy The Comedian.
- 50Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangLos Angeles TimesJustin ChangDe 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.
- 50Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversIt plays like an opportunity missed.
- 42The Film StageDaniel SchindelThe Film StageDaniel SchindelThe 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.
- 25IndieWireBen TraversIndieWireBen TraversToo conventional to function as shock comedy and too angry to spark spontaneous laughs, The Comedian is a film without a purpose.
- 25Slant MagazineElise NakhnikianSlant MagazineElise NakhnikianNearly everything in Taylor Hackford's tin-eared comedy is as ersatz as the Robert De Diro character's rage is real.