Mr. Saturday Night | | Cast : | Billy Crystal | | Director : | Billy Crystal | | Studio : | MGM/UA Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen | | Released Date : | September 23, 1992 | | DVD Released Date : | November 02, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | Almost live from the Catskills.....H-e-r-e-'s Billy! | Content
 | I have always felt Billy Crystal was a self absorbed, ruthless, know it all, Borcht belt brat, ego maniac! So when this movie was conceived (as a vehicle for Crystal) I thought it was merely an attempt to convince us that he himself was a showbiz legend. You know.....so he could show up at the Friars club and get respect from some former comedians who make cameo appearances in this flick. Greats like Slappy White, Carl Ballantine, Will Jordan, Jackie Gayle, and the master himself.....Jerry Lewis. Well.....I hate to say this.....but I now believe that I was wrong. I have since found Billy to indeed be a Showbiz legend! I now put him not only equal to but above many of the greats. I mean he's right up there with Lewis, Jack Benny, and George Burns. He turns in a great effort here as the abrasive, controlling, manipulative and unlovable Buddy Young. But the icing on the cake on why I changed my mind was the solid writing and unselfish way Crystal so generously gives David Payner this movie. It is for that reason and Payner's rock solid performance as the long suffering brother that make this Showbiz yarn a must see for any and all people who ever dreamed of being a standup comedian. This movie peels away and exposes the underlying current as to what makes a man bulldoze anybody who get's in his way from being a star. It's at times crass and vulgar but then that's who Buddy Young is. An underrated masterful little gem from one of the greatest entertainers today.....my "new" favorite comedian. Mr. Saturday Night.....the one and only.....Billy Crystal. He deserves all the accolades bestowed upon him. He truly is the greatest that we have today! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 23, 2005 | | Summary | Live from New York,it's Mr. Saturday Night! | Content
| Following the abundant success of 1991's CITY SLICKERS,Billy Crystal wrote,directed and stars in this critically disappointing comedy about a senior citizen stand-up comedian named Buddy Young. First we see Buddy as a young man in the 1940's. Buddy is even offered starring film roles. Ron Silver plays Buddy's agent/manager/publicist. Crystal's CS co-star David Paymer plays Buddy's brother. In one scene,Buddy was offered a starring film role that ended up going to the late Walter Matthau. Julie Warner is Buddy's love interest. Crystal assumed the directing duties after his longtime friend Rob Reiner declined for some reason. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 12, 2002 | | Summary | Too mean to be funny, and too funny to be meaningful | Content
| What a gyp - "Mr. Saturday Night" is supposed to be at least either heartwarming or funny, but is neither. Billy Crystal is Buddy Young, one of the sort of old time Jewish comics who got his start in the postwar "borscht belt". When the flick opens up, Buddy old yet still going strong - perhaps a bit too strong. Still playing gigs, it's clear that Buddy has missed out on big success despite a lifetime of hard work. Record deals and primetime haven't elevated Young to the pantheon of American entertainment like Sid Ceaser or Jerry Lewis. Instead, he plays rest homes and (when he's lucky) cruise ships. Though married, Buddy's true companion is his long suffering brother, Stan (David Paymer). In flashbacks, we learn that Buddy and Stan were originally supposed to have been a team, but Stan backed out at the last minute - leaving Buddy to accept the spotlight. The attention, which gave Buddy fame at first, only produced resentment later on. At first a primetime draw, Buddy's show eventually sank in the ratings (Davy Crockett killed him). A shot at comeback on the Sullivan show turned disastrous - he shared the bill with the Beatles. Various attempts to cash in on the latest craze each ended in failure (when was the last time you dusted off your LP of "Disco Jew"?). Though Buddy seems resolute to go on, each failure erodes a veneer within him, exposing Buddy's nastier side, one that drives away all but his closest relatives, and makes life hell even for them. Though covering years of Buddy's life in flashback, the plot centers around what may be a new break - when a new agent (Helen Hunt) manages to snag for Buddy a promising role in a movie to be directed by a young Buddy fan (played by Ron Silver). Ofcourse nothing works out - but that's not the movie's problem. Instead, the flick pulls strings shamelessly, using the same tricks that made "A League of their Own" look contrived and very Hollywood. Whether the swelling music or the tears, nothing looks real in this movie. What really kills this flick? The script plays either very funny or very sad, but forgets (or simply never understood) that real Jewish humor is both at the same time - only wearing different faces, but essentially both heartbreaking and hysterically funny at the same time. Instead, the flick never manages to reconcile how such a nasty guy can be both funny and mean and just makes him too separate characters - unfortunately, the mean and less entertaining one gets most of the screen time. If the flick had played it lighter on both counts, it may not have been as funny, but it would have been more poignant and believable. |
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