Post by StevePulaski on Jun 9, 2011 13:05:06 GMT -5
Amanda Peet, Jack Black, and Steve Zahn in Saving Silverman.
Rating: ★★½
I've been known to like some pretty bad movies. Bio-Dome and Black Sheep to name a few. I actually think I like Bio-Dome a lot more since I've seen it countless times. But it really doesn't deserve the rating of a good movie. It's completely idiotic, and just because I like it because I like slapstick features, I can't recommend it to a movie-goer who wants to go see a good film. Same thing goes with Saving Silverman. I laughed a lot and about five times out loud. But I like this kind of humor. To recommend it wouldn't be the right thing to do. What I find humorous and what you find humorous are two completely different levels of humor.
When released in theaters, the MPAA gave Saving Silverman a PG-13 rating. When released on Dvd, two separate ones were issued; one with the PG-13 rating (the theatrical cut) and one with the R rating (the director's cut). This is a review of the R rated print a friend gave to me a few months ago. I remember catching the PG-13 cut of the film on Comedy Central around 2004. I watched some scenes, laughed, but never desired to watch the full feature length film with the PG-13 rating.
Say you go to a bakery and find twenty chocolate brownies for ten dollars. Then there are twenty double stuffed chocolate brownies for the same price right next to the twenty regular brownies. Anyone would buy the double stuffed. Especially for the same price as the regular brand. Same goes with a Dvd. If there's the R rated version next to Unrated version, and they are the same price, nine times out of ten, the consumer will buy the Unrated version to get the "extra" material. Basically; I wanted to see what the R rated version was and I waited out to fulfill my dream.
I've done the research and realized that the R rated version of the film is six minutes longer than the PG-13 one. Not seeing the full PG-13 cut, or really remembering the scenes I saw when I was younger, I can't really say what's different. Probably a few scenes added in with nudity and some more pervasive language. That's all we need.
The movie focuses on three lifelong friends who constantly look out for each other. The three are J.D. (Black), Wayne (Zahn), and Darren (Biggs). All three are in a band, and enjoy doing, you know, guy things like watching football and hanging out. Their band breaks up when Darren meets Judith (Peet), a selfish and demanding girl who changes the person Darren is by preventing him to hang out with his friends and goes on to dictate his proper behavior. Darren, blinded by Judith's beauty, will do anything for her even if he is getting nothing in return.
I'm sure this has happened to some friendships when one man becomes married, but J.D. and Wayne devise a kidnapping plan and decide to keep Judith held up in the garage. When they ask their old football coach (Ermey) what they should do he replies simply and simplistically "kill her." Maybe because the crew didn't want to think of anything more elaborate or maybe the direction of this movie is supposed to be dark, but for whatever reason the film somehow thinks it's funny to see these idiots who can barely take care of themselves try to conduct a murder.
The humor is hit or miss. Some jokes are funny, some jokes can be tiresome. One of my favorite scenes is when Wayne reties Judith up and she replies by kicking him. Wayne is at a loss for words and points his finger at her and says "DON'T!" like he's talking to his dog. I don't why, but I found that scene very funny. I didn't get too many laughs out of the goofy and Chris Farley wannabe performance Jack Black was putting on, but Jason Biggs was the biggest highlight of the film.
I found the ending to be awkward and a little unexpected, but I think sometimes comedies are supposed to catch us off guard. I liked some of the scenes more than others, but buy the hour mark I grew restless and I grew a little fatigued. It isn't a bad comedy, but it certainly needed a few more laughs to get a bigger recommendation.
Starring: Jason Biggs, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, and Amanda Peet. Directed by: Dennis Dugan.