With "The Dick Van Dyke Show" off the air, Carl Reiner probably wanted to show that both he and Dick Van Dyke still could do comedy, so they made "The Comic". This movie casts Van Dyke as a 1920s comedian - apparently loosely based on Buster Keaton - who hits it big only to have his obsession with fame slowly destroy him (it always does seem to happen like that, doesn't it?) as talkies take over.
In a way, there are actually two movies here. The short movies-within-the-movie are pure slapstick comedy, but the movie itself is more serious, at times grim (yes, the man known as Rob Petrie CAN actually do a serious role). It's sort of like Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin" in that sense.
All in all, this isn't a great movie or anything, but it is worth seeing. Part reminiscence (it portrays him as an old man looking back on his life), part nostalgia, and part humor, it gives us all something to think about. Even if you don't watch any other parts, you just gotta see the short films that they make. Also starring Michele Lee, Mickey Rooney, Cornel Wilde, Nina Wayne, and Ed Peck, Steve Allen, and Carl Reiner in smaller roles.
In a way, there are actually two movies here. The short movies-within-the-movie are pure slapstick comedy, but the movie itself is more serious, at times grim (yes, the man known as Rob Petrie CAN actually do a serious role). It's sort of like Richard Attenborough's "Chaplin" in that sense.
All in all, this isn't a great movie or anything, but it is worth seeing. Part reminiscence (it portrays him as an old man looking back on his life), part nostalgia, and part humor, it gives us all something to think about. Even if you don't watch any other parts, you just gotta see the short films that they make. Also starring Michele Lee, Mickey Rooney, Cornel Wilde, Nina Wayne, and Ed Peck, Steve Allen, and Carl Reiner in smaller roles.