Saving Silverman *1/2 out of * * * * Starring: Steve Zahn, Jack Black, Jason Biggs, Amanda Peet, Amanda Detmer, Neil Diamond. Directed by: Dennis Dugan Running Time: 90 Minutes Rated PG-13: crude and sexual humor, language and some nudity.
"Saving Silverman" is a good example of a good comedy gone bad. As a love story it is good, however as a comedy it falls flat on it's face. I think throughout the short 90 minutes I laughed a total of seven times...and those were just chuckles at the most! The movie doesn't have the oomph to make it a great movie, and doesn't have the script to make it a funny movie.
Wayne Lefessier (Steven Zahn), J.D. McNugent (Jack Black), and Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs) have grown up all their lives together, they have been best friends forever and vow to stay close till the end. While in a bar after doing a show with their band, based on their love of Neil Diamond, Darren meets a young woman named Judith (Amanda Peet) whom he instantly falls for. Wayne and J.D. however think differently and when Judith tells Darren that he can never see his friends again, it's up to Wayne and J.D. to try and begin Saving Silverman.
The performances are topnotch and surprisingly, they are what keep the movie afloat. Jason Biggs right off the flop "Loser" does an OK job playing Silverman, but he is stale and flat at times. Steve Zahn is perfect in the role of Wayne Lefessier, and even though the movie is about Silverman, Lefessier is really the main character and the narrator of the movie itself. Jack Black is well Jack Black, and he does an all right job as J.D. but he isn't as funny as he has been in the past. Amanda Peet plays the ultimate bitch as Judith, and Neil Diamond plays Neil Diamond (he's better at singing than acting). Anyway the performances in the film are good, but it's too bad the script isn't.
Speaking of script, Hank Nelkan's choppy script is not only badly written, but not funny enough even for an episode of Sesame Street. The trailer for the movie, as with most movies gives away everything that happens in the movie, especially the funniest parts. Somewhere "Saving Silverman" was meant to be a good movie, and it could have been, but alas in the end it wasn't.
Dennis Dugan's direction is all right, he adds a few directorial touches here and there, nothing special being a simple comedy. "Saving Silverman" is a perfectly bad movie in more ways than one. It has a great cast, a good director and a sweet story...it's just too bad it has a bad script and is all together a bad movie.
Reviewed by Brandon Herring 3-11-00.
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