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View Date: July 29, 2001 Cast:
Written by: Directed by:
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Saving Silverman Saving Silverman is a painful example of what happens when Hollywood tries to capitalize on fame and success without having substantial ground for the establishment of such a project. The main stars of this film had all achieved acclaim of some form or another; Biggs in American Pie, Zahn in Happy Texas and That Thing You Do, Black in High Fidelity and Peet in The Whole Nine Yards. In each film, they stole the scenes they were in, and made names for themselves. Now, director Dugan, fresh off of his Big Daddy success, tried to combine all of these elements together in the hopes that their chemistry would come naturally, and their previous successes would generate something funny and wonderful. The problem is, Dugan forgot to include a script with any semblance of intelligence or sense. This story isn’t just dumb; it’s downright insulting and mean. And at no point is it ever funny, unless you find humor in nods to necrophilia, circus freaks, hip nuns, less than intelligent people, the elderly, homosexuality or bodily functions. If you do, and don’t mind a story that is little more than patchwork sequences and skits which may have sounded funny in description, but fail miserably in execution, then maybe this is the film for you. But for anyone who has graduated from high school style insulting humor and the generally mean spirited nature of society, this film is a complete waste of time, celluloid and Neil Diamonds name and time. Believe it or not, there is some very weak semblance of a plot, which involves two best friends trying to keep their other friend from marrying a controlling woman. They try kidnapping and then distraction, when Silverman’s one true love comes back into town. The common tie-in is an obsession with Neil Diamond and his music. Now I do enjoy Neil’s music, but what he did associating himself with this project is really hard to comprehend. Granted, he only appears briefly, but the ads use his name to draw people in, thus he will be associate with this disasterous effort. Why this was the film that he chose to break his 20 year Hollywood sabbatical is a question that requires more thought time and effort than this film is worth. The performances are barely worth the effort of recounting, but in the interest of fairness, I can just say that each of these actors work best in an environment of ensemble casts and stronger scripts. Black is better at playing intelligent and aggressive sarcasm, rather than outright stupidity. Biggs usually uses his boyish charm, while Zahn is good at playing clueless, but with a heart, and Peet is good at being sexy and sassy. Here, all of their efforts are lost in the muck and mire outright mean spirited ignorance that pervades every pore of this movie. Any time its funny to see someone fondling a corpse, or blantantly exploiting ignorance beyond a laughable stage, then something is serious wrong, as it is in this film. Ultimately, Saving Silverman is a cruel waste of talent buried in a crude, rude and socially unacceptable package. Dugan, coming off of his success with Big Daddy, completely destroys this with a patchwork scenery of ideas that must have sounded good in the planning meeting, and were funny in the trailer. However when pasted together and linked with other situations, it is a hopeless waste of time, money and Neil. (0 out of $$$$$)Agree? Disagree, Questions? Comments? |
