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Mr. Saturday Night
review by Zach B.
Rated R
Starring Billy Crystal, David Paymer, Julie Warner,
Jerry Orbach, Helen Hunt, Ron Silver
Running Time: 119 Minutes
Written by Billy Crystal, Lowell Ganz, Babloo
Mandell
Directed by Billy Cyrstal
Retail Price: 29.99
Features: Theatrical Trailer, Cast and Crew Bios
Specs: 1.33:1 Pan and Scan, 2.0 Dolby Surround
English, English Closed Captioning, French Subtitles,
Chapter Search
Billy Crystal is Buddy Young Jr. (Crystal), an aging
comic with a long and serious past behind him. It seems the
world has forgotten about him, as Buddy has trouble
searching and getting gigs. His brother Stan (David Paymer),
however, is tired of it all. Stan is Buddy's manager, in
fact, he's a lot more than his manager and brother. Stan has
always taken the backseat, as his brother always got in the
way of things of which Stan wanted, but never really went
for. Yet the main problem with Buddy is that he always seems
to screw himself. As we flashback between the present and
past, we learn about Buddy's rise to a famous comic, and
everything behind the scenes with his family and assorted
troubles. However, Buddy is soon offered a role which could
very well save his career. Is he going to screw himself
again?
"Mr. Saturday Night" isn't so much a movie about one
person's rise and fall, but more about relationships.
Buddy's relationships between his wife, his daughter and
especially his brother (as well as other people) are pretty
complex, but I think this is what makes the movie so good.
As we see Buddy fighting constantly with his brother or
trying to bond with his daughter (in a sense), we see the
nature and sides of the characters, and we learn they aren't
so one dimensional as they do appear to be. These also build
onto the character and story development of the film, which
is always a plus.
Upon its original release, "Mr. Saturday Night" was
overlooked by audiences and critics alike. Most criticized
Crystal's directing debut and the whole movie itself.
However, I really enjoy this movie. I think Billy Crystal's
direction is incredibly good, especially for a first time
director. As we all know, many great actors out there try
their luck at directing, and a good majority of the time,
the results aren't so good. Still, Crystal succeeds in
creating a great atmosphere. However, not everything is
perfect. I did find it a bit of a stretch to see the
characters age in a ton of makeup, and he uses tired and
predictable techniques. When we first see his young daughter
watching her father perform and say a joke about her, we
close up on her as the normal "oh my daddy doesn't care how
I feel and I am deeply affected by it" music comes on. But
don't get me wrong, Crystal succeeds everywhere else. The
performances are top notch, especially by David Paymer as
Crystal's brother. The chemistry between him and Crystal is
remarkable, and in my opinion, some of the best to ever
grace the screen. Luckily, Paymer was rewarded for the role,
scoring an Oscar® nod for Best Supporting Actor. I could
not imagine anyone else in the role, and if there was
someone else, I don't think the movie would be as good as it
is with Paymer. The script is also pretty solid, which was
written by Crystal with Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, the
team behind "City Slickers", "EDtv", "Splash" and more
recently, the adaptation of "Where The Heart Is". The script
is filled with some great moments and funny jokes, but there
are also many Jewish cliches in there.
If you have never seen "Mr. Saturday Night", I highly
recommend you rent it. Billy Crystal's directorial debut is
very good, and he showcases it in an excellent and funny
movie. It's also a showcase for all of Billy Crystal's
talents, and once again proves just how good of an actor and
funnyman he is.
This is where I am most disappointed with the disc.
Polygram, who has the rights to this film (sadly), has given
us a pan and scan transfer in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
Man, I really wanted widescreen for this film (well, that's
how I like all my films. I would have even taken
non-anamorphic!). It's quite a shame. Actually, I don't
think this movie has ever been released in widescreen. As
far as this transfer goes, it's above average, but with a
little extra care, it could have been great. Detail is
really nice and colors are solid, but you can see
compression artifacts here and there. But what really
annoyed me is the many specks and artifacts throughout the
film. It's not just a few, there are many. Yet despite the
flaws, it's a decent pan and scan transfer.
"Mr. Saturday Night" features a 2 channel English Dolby
Surround track. This movie doesn't really need 5.1 since
it's really dialogue driven (but I always love 5.1 and would
have liked to see what this movie could do with it), but
there are actually some really nice surrounds throughout the
film. Most noteable is toward the start, where Crystal and
Paymer are eating Chinese food, and there's a storm outside.
You would swear there was thunder or rain pouring behind
you. It's dialogue driven alright, but there are some good
surrounds which make up for the lack of 5.1. French
subtitles are included, but more annoying, there is only
English closed captioning.
Nothing special. A theatrical trailer in full frame and
four filmographies. What annoyed me about the filmographies
is that they don't even have them for the main characters so
much. Jerry Orbach, who's hardly in the movie, has one and
David Paymer doesn't. Oh well.
A very good movie, but this is a very disappointing
release. No widescreen, decent picture quality, nice sound
and a lack of extras. I really hope New Line and Castle Rock
gets the rights back to this movie somehow... this film is
in desperate need of a special edition (or at least a Billy
Crystal commentary). This disc is region free, which is
good, but if you're thinking of picking it up, you might as
well do it as soon as you can. This title has been
discontinued, and chances are really slim of it being
re-released into a special edition, which it highly
deserves.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (3/5)
(4/5)
 (1/5)
 (2.5/5, NOT an average)
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