I am not one to overreact to a film, so take my words with the utmost seriousness. "Saving Silverman" is the worst movie I've seen over a decade. It is just flat awful, and even more repugnant by the vast wealth of talent that is taken down on this Titanic of a film. This film makes Dennis Dugan's last film, "Big Daddy," seem like "Citizen Kane." It is not just a failure as a film-it is a failure in what it says about society, and what Hollywood thinks we want to see on a Friday night. I have never left a movie feeling so sad as I did after this film. To believe in the world of "Saving Silverman" is to believe the worst in humanity: friends who will commit felonies to keep their friend from marrying, nuns who swear and fornicate, a woman who believes love is control, a man who is believes "sex" in a monogamous relationship is some Jergens and a porn magazine, a group of football fans that barely bat an eyelash at a murder. Yes, all this happens in `Saving Silverman' and is played for laughs. It is almost unbearable. The worst crime is the waste of talent. Jack Black, who gave an Oscar worthy performance earlier this year in "High Fidelity", and was electric in the HBO series "Tenacious D," is relegated into an ogre. R. Lee Ermey, a man who served his country valiantly as a U.S marine, and served the movie audience with groundbreaking performances in films like `Full Metal Jacket,' is relegated to a murdering football coach who, in his most undistinguished moment, is shown taking a dump on the front lawn. Jason Biggs, who basically carried his first film, "American Pie," is totally undistinguished as a spineless milquetoast who even the most bashful of men would want to shake silly. And Amanda Peet, the comedic heart and soul of "The Whole Nine Yards" isn't allowed to be funny--her character is so evil, that nobody can love her. Even Neil Diamond, yes THE Neil Diamond, gives a jittery performance that makes him look like he's past his prime. I am biased. I am from the Seattle/Tacoma area (where this film is based and filmed in). We are not spineless, shallow, obsessed, stupid. I have also been through the struggles of being an aspiring screenwriter-and with all of the struggles in getting a film made, I cannot believe THIS script got turned into a film. Some will excuse it as farce, but farce is supposed to be funny. The worst crime of "Saving Silverman" is it's not funny. The obsessions in "There's Something About Mary" are mildly perverse; the gross-out dimension of "American Pie" is sweet and innocent. These people are cold and vicious, and are self-indulgent many levels beyond the caricatures we see on the `Jerry Springer' show. This film will not make you laugh, if you have any soul. It will make you feel hollow, used, mugged of your money and your time. `Saving Silverman' is labeled as a comedy, but let there be no doubt-it is a tragedy.
Grade: Sub Z-
Grade: Sub Z-