People love comedians, do they not? WE seem to take to them the way we take to our food. For the most part, we ALL tend to stick to what we know we like, but from time to time, we venture out and see if there is something else we might enjoy. Life is full of surprises if you look for them, after all.

“The Comedian” is directed by Taylor Hackford (“Parker”), a Californian who has enjoyed success over the past several decades with films such as 1982’s “An Officer and a Gentleman” and 2004’s “Ray.” He also has been listed as a co-Producer on several other movies, including THIS one, as well.

My first impressions: this film is VERY New York-centric AND nearly everyone and everything about this movie screams “over the hill.” However, I think the movie knows this and fully attempts to embrace it.

Robert DeNiro (“Hands of Stone”) is Jackie Burke. Jackie is a legendary comic, best known for a role he played on television. Everywhere he goes, he is asked to play as THAT character and NOT as himself, which he aspires to be, as a comedian. For most of us, it would be hard to imagine what that world must be like, but almost anyone who has become famous for a representation would know all about this. Even someone as marginally famous as, say, The Angry Video Game Nerd, also known as James Rolfe, could probably relate to Jackie Burke.

After being heckled during a standup routine, Burke finds himself in a jailhouse, serving time, mainly, because he was too proud to apologize for what he exacted upon the heckler. Afterwards, we meet the bulk of the cast: Danny DeVito (“Wiener-Dog”) as Jimmy Berkowitz, along with Patti LuPone (“Parker”) as Flo Berkowitz, his wife; Leslie Mann (“Vacation”) as Harmony Schiltzstein, along with Harvey Keitel (“The Ridiculous 6”), her father AND last, but not least, Charles Grodin (“While We’re Young”) as Herby Finkelstein.

The cast goes on and on, really. Some are better-known in standup comedy circles and, more or less, just play themselves in the movie, but I would be remiss if I did not identify Edie Falco (“Nurse Jackie”) and Cloris Leachman (“Is That a Gun in Your Pocket?”). Falco has the unenviable role of Burke’s talent agent and Leachman is a former colleague of Burke’s gone by, who zips into and out of the movie with as much dignity as the story allows, which is NOT much.

Not long after the movie began to take form, I had already decided that the film was a bit crowded and that the story was a little murky. Although the pace of the plot picked up and quickly connected all the dots I was staring at, the uneven storyline never really straightened itself out. I was not at all surprised to see DeNiro take on such a role. I knew he was naturally funny, through word-of-mouth and from certain interviews, from over the years. There were important moments in which the standup segments really meant something to the overall plot, but outside of THOSE instances, did they really have to take over so much of the film? I think not.

As a man who is beginning to approach middle age, one thing I found fascinating was my apparent lack of disgust in seeing a man of advanced years sweeping a woman of at least 30 years his junior off her feet. Not only that, I easily accepted their romantic encounter as something serious, but maybe that had more to do with the on-screen chemistry of DeNiro and Mann than anything else.

I enjoyed plenty of laughs throughout the picture. THAT is not the issue. I saw a movie about a year ago, which had a similar style, but in that one, I had no problems with the way it blended the standup routines and the focal story in the film. Here, there was a clear separation and it appeared that I was looking at two different movies. I would’ve preferred to see less of the routines and MORE of the main story, but overall the film felt too long, either way. We KNOW DeNiro is the Comedian. So, maybe just a taste would have been enough, rather than a few pints, if you know what I mean.

In the end, “The Comedian” is a mess. Yes, it was funny and awkward at times and I love awkward humor, but why should I really care about his daughter, who delivers a foul-mouthed, tacky comic routine, just like her daddy, when the bulk of the main storyline was SO overshadowed by the other half of the film, which contained the most redeeming elements of the movie? The saying still holds true: “films are made on the cutting room floor.” I think my analysis is almost as confusing as the storyline itself.

Director: Taylor Hackford
Screenwriters: Art Linson, Jeff Ross, Richard LaGravenese, Lewis Friedman
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, Edie Falco, Veronica Ferres as Karola Rosenberg, Charles Grodin, Cloris Leachman, Patti LuPone, Harvey Keitel, Hannibal Buress as Himself, Happy Anderson as Severin Katz, Jim Norton as Chip, Gilbert Gottfried as Trevor Friedmann, Billy Crystal as Himself
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Release: February 3rd, 2017