bloewy
I am a fan of Al Frankin and had wanted to see this movie for quite a while. As it turns out, that was 12 years, but I finally saw Stuart Saves His Family on HBO. The short answer is that I liked it a lot, but not for the reasons that I was expecting to like it for. The movie was funny, but not really laugh out loud funny. The characters were too well developed for "laugh out loud". It would have felt mean to laugh at the alcoholic father who has no clue that he has a problem. The stoner brother who eventually figures out he's wasted his life. The enabler mother. The obese sister who deals with her stress by eating pound cake. I found myself rooting for these people, and not really wanting to laugh at them. There are certainly funny parts of the movie, and Al Frankin is a funny guy, but I think that the problem with Stuart Saves His Family is that it is too well done for an audience who want Wayne's World (One of my favorites, BTW) and instead got a serious movie about dysfunctional people with very real problems where you laugh with them and not at them.
dap255
A lot of users compared this to other SNL movies, which is reasonable since it's based on an SNL sketch, but in some respects is totally unfair. The SNL sketch was played for laughs. This is a DRAMA, not a comedy (despite having lots of funny scenes). The focus is on Stuart's (Al Franken) dysfunctional family, which dysfunction stems from his father's (Harris Yulin) alcoholism, which cows Stuart's mother into submission, drives his sister to overeating, and is gradually turning his brother (the always-great Vincent D'Onofrio) into a copy of his father. All of this has turned Stuart into the self-help addict we see on SNL. The other key character is Stuart's friend and self-help partner Laura San Giacomo (also turning in a great performance), who shares a wonderful platonic relationship with Stuart based on mutual empathy. The scene where San Giacomo describes her meeting with her biological father almost brought tears to my eyes. I give this an 8 because it loses some points for inconsistency by trying too hard to be a comedy during the first half of the movie. But once the real drama kicks in during the second half, it becomes brilliantly poignant. Less even than "American Beauty," (its closest analog) but just as good at depicting family dysfunction. Highly recommended.
John Wayne Peel
I didn't see this movie in theaters. Truthfully, unless it is a huge blockbuster I've been waiting for for a long time, I generally don't shell out the high ticket prices these days, but I remember a very funny Stuart Smalley skit where Al Franken's usually easygoing character was p.o.'d that his movie did so badly. Now, after having seen it and really loving it, I feel kind of guilty for letting Stuart down. Just for the character actors alone (like the much underrated Harris Yulin as Smalley's angry alcoholic dad) this picture is a true gem. while I cannot relate personally to a so completely dysfunctional family or 12 step programs, I have run across such people in my old neighborhood growing up. The cast is letter perfect, and the laughs are non-stop. Normally, I'm a little uncomfortable with the Smalley character and his lisping speech patterns, but it all makes sense when you see the people who make up his life. This is a truly confused guy. And like the title says, Stuart does indeed save his family and the movie. I am hoping that in the future, this will become what is considered a truly classic comedy.
haroldnmaude
I was channel-surfing one afternoon and "Stuart Saves His Family" was on HBO. Being a bit of a masochist, I thought I'd stay and see how embarrassingly bad it was going to be (as most SNL-character-inspired movies are) and was pleasantly surprised. Anyone who is or knows someone who is in any of the 12-step programs will appreciate this movie and show it to all your friends. It has a stellar cast and Al Franken is an underrated genius.
AD
