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Paul Greenwood reviews
MGM
- Cert: R
- Cat.no: 1003514
- Running time: 119 minutes
- Year: 1992
- Pressing: 2002
- Region(s): 1, NTSC
- Chapters: 16
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: $14.95
- Extras:Audio Commentary with Crystal and Paymer, 3 Featurettes, DeletedScenes, 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 Nightfailed to make much of an impression on its release ten years ago. Possibly peoplejust weren’t ready for the darker side Crystal shows here and were lookingfor something more like his early, funny films. That’s not to say this filmisn’t very, very funny in places. It’s just that there’s a bitterness tothe 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 lifeand career from young boy to old man, through a series of flashbacks andreminiscences. The main focus is on his relationship with his put uponbrother Stan. As youngsters, they entertain family members with theircomedy 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, tohaving his own TV show – where he’s dubbed Mr Saturday Night – to thedecline of his later years. Now in the twilight of his career, he isreduced to playing shows in retirement homes in the afternoon because he’slost 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 finalyears with his family, but Buddy needs his audience. He even resorts todoing a routine at his mother’s funeral, just to get some laughs in frontof people. The thing that both characterises and haunts Buddy’s career andhis personal life is his mean spirited attitude. Although not meaning to behurtful, he causes rifts in most of his personal relationships, as well asjeopardising his professional career. Every time he’s given a shot, he hasto take the joke too far.
The acting is above average across the board. Crystal especially does aremarkable job in portraying a man who is basically an asshole and yet whocan still elicit our sympathy. His work here ranges from energetic stageshows 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 andthere are some familiar faces including future Oscar winner Helen Hunt asBuddy’s latter day agent – in typical Buddy style, he invites her to “gotake a shit with your clothes on” – and Ron Silver as a merciless Hollywooddirector.
The production design and photography are warm and evocative, with awonderful sense of period. Unfortunately, the old age make-up is somewhatunconvincing, but this is far from a major criticism. Much of the script isCrystal free-wheeling in character as Buddy and there are plenty laughs tobe had. Other aspects are nicely written too, and this allows the film tobe touching without being overly sentimental.
MGM have done a decent enough job with the transfer. The picture ismostly warm and clear but slightly subdued, with occasional nicks andscratches. There are some very heavily lit stage scenes that come throughparticularly well.
This is an almost entirely dialogue driven movie, so it looks asthough no one felt it was necessary to remaster the sound in 5.1. The DolbyDigital 2.0 track does the job adequately enough, but you’re not even goingto need rear speakers and it’s certainly not going to keep the neighboursup.
There’s a nice set of extras included for what is a relativelyunknown catalogue title. First up is an anecdotal commentary from Crystalthat doesn’t suffer from too many silent stretches. He’s joined by Paymerabout two-thirds of the way through and they continue together in a chummybut surprisingly dry manner, focusing mainly on the characterisations.
There are also three featurettes : The Buddy Young Jr. Story, whichruns for 6 minutes and covers the creation and evolution of the charactercreated by Crystal ; See What We Did, which runs for 24 minutes and goesinto more detail about Crystal’s comedy beginnings and the conception ofthe movie. Through interview snippets, Crystal and Paymer talk of variousaspects of shooting, touching on the make-up, cinematography and productiondesign ; and Make-Up, which runs 6 minutes and does exactly what it says onthe tin. These are well worth checking out and can be played separately orusing a handy play-all function.
Seven deleted scenes, with intros by Crystal and totalling 19 minutescome next. Some of these are very good, including an extended steadicamsequence 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 selectionof 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 essentialpurchase. For those less familiar with it or totally new to it, the decentextras and the fact that it can be bought online for less than £10, makesit well worth checking out.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALLE-mail Paul Greenwood
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.