Boobirt Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Ghoulumbe Better than most people think

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

annuskavdpol This movie, Stuart saves his family, is about dysfunction. Stuart is especially incongruent. When his family members insult him and emotionally pierce him by putting him down, he smiles at them. This indicates that Stuart is out of touch with his emotions. Another way of communicating with his facial gestures would be to acknowledge the pain that he just encountered, and to try to take ownership of it. This way he leads by example. And validates his real feeling versus putting up a fake front. Stuart is perceived as a hero in the movie but he is not because he did not find his own way. Instead he started judging his father versus helping him. Abondonment is often not the answer to dysfunction, as it creates more emotional distress. Perhaps it was not the intention of the film director to show a movie about what not to do, but I think it is a great example of a fallacy in humanity, I.e. to leave the one who you care most about behind.

southwest3210-156-400970 I think that the problem with this movie is that it has difficulty handling it's tragicomic aspect. That is so hard to pull off. In my mind, the perfect example of a movie that DOES would be Steve Martin's "Roxanne". Most tragicomic movies either err on being too dramatic or too comic. This one just leaned too far in the dramatic department. While it did really flesh out the smalley characters, it did so at the expense of being funny. It needed a little more crazy/absurd moments to be a truly good comedy. I should mention that at essentially every "skit" character based movie from SNL has fallen flat, so there is not exactly much to match or beat here. Regardless of that low-bar, I truly think this could have been a riot if made differently.I had in mind something like "Stuart saves the world', like an Austin Powers flick(how ironic, BTW, that the most successful SNL alumni movies are NOT based on SNL characters, ala Bill Murray's Stripes, Groundhog Day, et al., or Chevy Chases Vacation flicks, The "Blues Brothers" being the one exception here)....Again, it would have been perfect if he saved the world through his insipid motivational drivel, seeing as how some of the actual gurus, especially the religious ones disguised as preachers, such as Joel Osteen, come close to at least "attempting" to do that right now. Actually, Joel Osteen is not at all dissimilar to Stuart Smiley. Scary but true. It could have been classic, but this little movie is still sweet, and far better then the manure 99% of the character skit SNL movies are. And now Franken has the last laugh, being one of only two US Senators that were former movie stars. Reagan will prob forever hold the record of being the only president of that ilk.

bill04250 Movies inspired by SNL characters seem to have a consistently bad reputation. But that reputation is usually based on the fact that the films failed at the box office. The truth is, they are good solid comedies that were never meant to be blockbusters. 'Stuart Saves His Family' is just such a film.This film has a cast of excellent actors who portray tragedy and comedy with sublime skill. The script is heartfelt and funny. There is no mockery of recovery programs or the self-help movement. Instead, 'Stuart Saves His Family' evokes the all too real humor amid the tragedy that comes from being part of a dysfunctional family (and world).AL Franken's deadpan deliver of Stuart's ridiculous, but charming self is the the heart of the movie. But equally good are Piper Laurie, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lesley Boone & Harris Yulin. All four play characters who could easily descend into shrill, two-dimensional background support to the wacky lead character. Thankfully, the actors all bring out the human beings inside their characters.The message about finding your own definition of happiness and family is another of the movie's strong points.I also recommend "Superstar", another SNL character driven movie, starring Molly Shannon. She's an excellent actress with a wicked, silly streak.

alba500 This is one of best comedies of all times. The psychology of the main character is very incisive and realistic. However it is put in a grotesque context. Other characters are also very true to life or rather caricatures of certain types of people. The brother and the father of the main character seem to bring up the politically correct goofiness and dorkines of Al Franken. The Mother cuts also a very real and yet exaggerated person. The plot flows well and the whole dysfunctional family is funny and sad at the same time. The friends of Al Franken are also funny in their pseudo psychological babble and pretense. I find this film to be so good that I have bought the DVD.