Extras:
Audio Commentary with Crystal and Paymer, 3 Featurettes, Deleted
Scenes, Gag Reel, Theatrical Trailer.
Director:
Billy Crystal
Cast:
Buddy Young Jr.. : Billy Crystal
Stan : David Paymer
Elaine : Julie Warner
Annie : Helen Hunt
Susan : Mary Mara
Phil Gussman : Jerry Orbach
Larry Meyerson : Ron Silver
Dismissed by critics and neglected by the public, Mr Saturday Night
failed to make much of an impression on its release ten years ago. Possibly people
just weren't ready for the darker side Crystal shows here and were looking
for something more like his early, funny films. That's not to say this film
isn't very, very funny in places. It's just that there's a bitterness to
the humour and a caustic edge to Crystal's character that sometimes jars.
He plays stand-up comedian, Buddy Young Jr. and the film traces his life
and career from young boy to old man, through a series of flashbacks and
reminiscences. The main focus is on his relationship with his put upon
brother Stan. As youngsters, they entertain family members with their
comedy routines and impersonations. Entering a talent show as teenagers,
Stan gets cold feet, so Buddy performs on his own and a comic is born.
Stan's role from then on is agent and manager.
We see Buddy's career develop from doing gigs at Jewish holiday resorts, to
having his own TV show - where he's dubbed Mr Saturday Night - to the
decline of his later years. Now in the twilight of his career, he is
reduced to playing shows in retirement homes in the afternoon because he's
lost his winter booking on a cruise ship. "I've got cancer of the career."
he tells Stan. "It's inoperable." Stan wants to retire and spend his final
years with his family, but Buddy needs his audience. He even resorts to
doing a routine at his mother's funeral, just to get some laughs in front
of people. The thing that both characterises and haunts Buddy's career and
his personal life is his mean spirited attitude. Although not meaning to be
hurtful, he causes rifts in most of his personal relationships, as well as
jeopardising his professional career. Every time he's given a shot, he has
to take the joke too far.
The acting is above average across the board. Crystal especially does a
remarkable job in portraying a man who is basically an asshole and yet who
can still elicit our sympathy. His work here ranges from energetic stage
shows to an old man sipping tea and we're with him every step of the way.
As Stan, butt of most of Buddy's acidic barbs, Paymer is an absolute joy,
and fully deserved his Oscar nomination. The lesser roles are well cast and
there are some familiar faces including future Oscar winner Helen Hunt as
Buddy's latter day agent - in typical Buddy style, he invites her to "go
take a shit with your clothes on" - and Ron Silver as a merciless Hollywood
director.
The production design and photography are warm and evocative, with a
wonderful sense of period. Unfortunately, the old age make-up is somewhat
unconvincing, but this is far from a major criticism. Much of the script is
Crystal free-wheeling in character as Buddy and there are plenty laughs to
be had. Other aspects are nicely written too, and this allows the film to
be touching without being overly sentimental.
MGM have done a decent enough job with the transfer. The picture is
mostly warm and clear but slightly subdued, with occasional nicks and
scratches. There are some very heavily lit stage scenes that come through
particularly well.
This is an almost entirely dialogue driven movie, so it looks as
though no one felt it was necessary to remaster the sound in 5.1. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 track does the job adequately enough, but you're not even going
to need rear speakers and it's certainly not going to keep the neighbours
up.
There's a nice set of extras included for what is a relatively
unknown catalogue title. First up is an anecdotal commentary from Crystal
that doesn't suffer from too many silent stretches. He's joined by Paymer
about two-thirds of the way through and they continue together in a chummy
but surprisingly dry manner, focusing mainly on the characterisations.
There are also three featurettes : The Buddy Young Jr. Story, which
runs for 6 minutes and covers the creation and evolution of the character
created by Crystal ; See What We Did, which runs for 24 minutes and goes
into more detail about Crystal's comedy beginnings and the conception of
the movie. Through interview snippets, Crystal and Paymer talk of various
aspects of shooting, touching on the make-up, cinematography and production
design ; and Make-Up, which runs 6 minutes and does exactly what it says on
the tin. These are well worth checking out and can be played separately or
using a handy play-all function.
Seven deleted scenes, with intros by Crystal and totalling 19 minutes
come next. Some of these are very good, including an extended steadicam
sequence that would have opened the film, and extra stand-up footage.
There's also an 8 minute gag reel, which contains a hit and miss selection
of outtakes and deleted scenes. Finally, we have the theatrical trailer.
Overall, if you're already a fan of the movie then is pretty much an essential
purchase. For those less familiar with it or totally new to it, the decent
extras and the fact that it can be bought online for less than £10, makes
it well worth checking out.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
