Night and the City (1992 film) De Niro's work as "more like a riff on Rupert Pupkin, the goofy talk show fan he played in Scorsese's "The King of Comedy"". Ebert and Howe both agreed, however, that Alan King's performance was fantastic. Owen Gleiberman concurred in his review, but he sided with Ebert regarding De Niro, concluding, "the actor who once seemed the heir to Brando, Clift, and, yes, Widmark — the actor who once got so far inside his roles that he just about detonated the screen — now plays characters who don't seem to have any inner life at all." David Ansen praised the
Robert De Niro Temptation of Christ", he explained on at least two different occasions: In addition, De Niro has played a number of Catholic characters in his movies, including a Catholic penitent in the 1986 film "The Mission". De Niro initially supported the inclusion of the controversial documentary about an alleged vaccination coverup, "Vaxxed", at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. He explained his interest in the film resulted from his family experience with an autistic son. De Niro withdrew his recommendation after discussion with the scientific community. He said he was pressured by some festival filmmakers to remove "Vaxxed" from the festival line-up.