Top 10 Worst SNL Movies (and the Top 5 Best)
Saturday Night Live has been a cultural touchstone ever since it hit TV screens back on October 11th, 1975. A sketch comedy TV show that has gone from the counterculture to the culture of TV is notorious for its longevity and some of the most beloved comedic sketches of all time. Some of the characters and actors on the series were so lovable and hilarious that they left audiences asking, "Hey, I love these characters so much. What if they got their own movie?" Well, the audiences asked, the suits heard and the results? Not too good.
Yes, most movies based on Saturday Night Live are notorious for being truly terrible. Unfortunately for me, not too long ago, I decided to take the onus to watch every single one of them for a bar trivia night and then discovered the hard way that I did not have to watch all of these (usually awful) movies since it was a 5-question rundown and almost all of them revolved around the good ones. So, here is my angry ranting of them for your entertainment to justify those 15-20 hours of my life that I will not be getting back. But before that, we’ll be counting down the actually good ones that you might want to check out if you haven't done so yet. In other words, if you combine both lists together, we’re actually ranking all of them (and the fact that of the 15, we can make a top 10 of the bad ones and only 5 of the good ones should tell you something).
THE BEST
5. Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video
Calling Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video an SNL movie is a bit of a cheat as it was not actually a theatrically released feature film. Instead, it was a feature-length television special (about 80 minutes) that was entirely directed and produced by Michael O’Donoghue. In case you don’t know who Michael O’Donoghue was, he’s arguably the most legendary comedian that you’ve never heard of. He was the original head writer of SNL, a major contributor to National Lampoon Magazine, was often considered the funniest person in the room of the original SNL writing group (let that sink in for a moment) and can best be described as the sketch comic equivalent to Hunter S. Thompson.
Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video is basically what happens when you just let a sociopath with complete and utter contempt for the world around him do whatever he wants and the result is an interesting piece of television history. Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video is a compilation of sketches that were too risque for SNL at the time with it being overall hit-and-miss. But when it hits, it is so funny just to peel back the layers of what is a very clearly nihilistic individual.
Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video is basically what happens when you just let a sociopath with complete and utter contempt for the world around him do whatever he wants and the result is an interesting piece of television history. Mr. Mike’s Mondo Video is a compilation of sketches that were too risque for SNL at the time with it being overall hit-and-miss. But when it hits, it is so funny just to peel back the layers of what is a very clearly nihilistic individual.
4. MacGruber
From the minds of the Lonely Island, MacGruber was originally written as a spoof of the classic TV show, MacGuyver, wherein the title character will thwart evildoers using any random junk he has around short of using a gun. MacGruber the movie only has the vague connotations of that concept and the rest of it is a spy movie parody that seems par for the course of its time period (the late 2000s). But it’s still very funny, with some truly laugh-out-loud jokes about how much of a deranged nutbag our main character is.
I loved this movie when it came out. Going back to it years later, MacGruber is the most aggressively 2010 movie ever made, and I mean that in both a good way and a bad way. It’s definitely not what you would call highbrow humor and does involve a lot of screaming, no subtlety and MacGruber himself always seems like he’s winking to the camera. On the other hand, when this movie is funny, it’s very very funny. Particular mention goes to the scene where they make fun of sex scenes in movies. Even if you’re not a fan of the rest of MacGruber, the whole movie is worth it just for that one great joke.
One of the best comedy sequels of all time, Wayne’s World 2 is a respectable follow-up to the already-great Wayne’s World, once more following Wayne and Garth as they try to put on a music festival after Wayne is visited in his dreams by the ghost of Jim Morrison and a half-naked Indian. What makes Wayne’s World 2 a great sequel is that it eschews many of the clichés that were very common for movie sequels at the time. Wayne and Garth don’t break up, Wayne is still with his girlfriend from the first movie, they don’t give them a kid sidekick and they don’t just rehash the plot of the first movie and constantly lampshade that fact.
I loved this movie when it came out. Going back to it years later, MacGruber is the most aggressively 2010 movie ever made, and I mean that in both a good way and a bad way. It’s definitely not what you would call highbrow humor and does involve a lot of screaming, no subtlety and MacGruber himself always seems like he’s winking to the camera. On the other hand, when this movie is funny, it’s very very funny. Particular mention goes to the scene where they make fun of sex scenes in movies. Even if you’re not a fan of the rest of MacGruber, the whole movie is worth it just for that one great joke.
3. Wayne’s World 2
One of the best comedy sequels of all time, Wayne’s World 2 is a respectable follow-up to the already-great Wayne’s World, once more following Wayne and Garth as they try to put on a music festival after Wayne is visited in his dreams by the ghost of Jim Morrison and a half-naked Indian. What makes Wayne’s World 2 a great sequel is that it eschews many of the clichés that were very common for movie sequels at the time. Wayne and Garth don’t break up, Wayne is still with his girlfriend from the first movie, they don’t give them a kid sidekick and they don’t just rehash the plot of the first movie and constantly lampshade that fact.
Instead, much of the humor that made Mike Myers and Dana Carvey famous is perfectly on brand here and the movie makes fun of more musical and movie clichés that weren’t poked fun at in the first movie. The Last Seduction, the Village People and The Graduate are just a few works poked fun at here. Only thing that knocks it down a peg and makes it a little worse than the first film is that the villain is admittedly a little weak. Not to say the bad guy in the first movie was one of the great comedy villains, but in this one, the antagonist is played by Christopher Walken of all people and he still comes off as terribly bland. Wasting a genuinely funny talent like Walken into such a blasé role is a major misfire and it does make the movie feel a little weaker as a result.
Honorable Mention: Office Space
Office Space is one of the best cult classics of the 90s and is occasionally considered an SNL movie and occasionally not. So which is it? Well, the movie was based on a series of short films based on the character of Milton by Mike Judge. He made these completely independently and sold them to a few different sketch comedy shows in the 90s, one of which was, you guessed it, SNL. So while Milton did air on SNL, it’s technically not an original SNL movie since it was not backed by Lorne Michaels or the institution which is why it's an honorable mention and we're giving an abridged review here. Still a damn funny movie and a great satire of the soul-sucking miasma that is working in a cubicle farm.
2. The Blues Brothers
Of all the sketches from the original run of SNL to be given the feature-length treatment, the Blues Brothers is not the one that you would expect, as it was mostly a variety sketch of Dan Aykroyd and Jon Belushi paying tribute to a genre of music that Aykroyd was more than a little obsessed with. Nor would this movie be the type of film you would expect the Blues Brothers to be in. Jake and Elwood Blues are given a mission by God to somehow gather enough money to save an orphanage so they decide to get their old band together to raise said money. Members of the band include actual real blues legends such as Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin and large parts of the film are a musical throwback featuring a lot of great classic renditions of the blues and country.
When it is not that, the movie alternates between the Blues Brothers harassing their old bandmates or figuring out a way to piss off everyone they meet. Along their journey, the Blueses end up being targeted by the police, a country band, Jake’s rocket launcher-toting ex-wife and a cabal of white supremacists. This all ultimately climaxes in one of the greatest car chases put to film that only gets bigger and more ridiculous the longer it goes on. The sheer unflappability of the Blues to everything they encounter just makes it even funnier and, more importantly, fun.
1. Wayne’s World
Debating whether the first Blues Brothers or the first Wayne’s World is the best film based on an SNL movie is both an exercise in futility and also a reflection on which generation you belong to. Seriously, flip a coin, they’re both great. Ultimately, I think I ended up choosing Wayne’s World for two reasons. First off, I am part of the younger generation that probably identifies more with Wayne’s World than The Blues Brothers. But, second, and more importantly, Wayne’s World is the only SNL movie that is kinda about something. The original sketch featured Wayne and Garth, two moronic metalheads who broadcast a public access cable show from the basement of Wayne’s parents’ house, trying to act as pop culture critics. It was funny but doesn’t sound like enough to flesh out a full movie. That’s why the director and writers wisely chose this as an avenue to examine/parody the musical counterculture of the early 90s.
Wayne’s World is one of those movies that defined its time period and while that might make it sound dated, it has actually aged tremendously well as a time capsule. When it’s not making fun of music and the kind of dumb things guys get up to when they have too much time on their hands in a pre-internet era (CAR!), Wayne’s World lovingly pokes fun at the numerous movie clichés and plot contrivances that were a dime a dozen, both back then and in many movies now. Add to it Mike Myers’ schtick of messing with the fourth wall and Alice Cooper giving one of the funniest celebrity cameos in cinematic history, and you have one of the greatest comedies of the 90s. If you could only watch just one movie based on an SNL property, you should make it this one.
Those were the best but, let’s face it, you’re here to read about the worst. Let’s start with…
Wayne’s World is one of those movies that defined its time period and while that might make it sound dated, it has actually aged tremendously well as a time capsule. When it’s not making fun of music and the kind of dumb things guys get up to when they have too much time on their hands in a pre-internet era (CAR!), Wayne’s World lovingly pokes fun at the numerous movie clichés and plot contrivances that were a dime a dozen, both back then and in many movies now. Add to it Mike Myers’ schtick of messing with the fourth wall and Alice Cooper giving one of the funniest celebrity cameos in cinematic history, and you have one of the greatest comedies of the 90s. If you could only watch just one movie based on an SNL property, you should make it this one.
Those were the best but, let’s face it, you’re here to read about the worst. Let’s start with…
THE WORST
10. Harold
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The problem with many movies based on SNL skits is that they take bits that are funny for 5-minute sketches and then drag them out to full 90-minute movies which leads to the material feeling very one-note. Harold bottoms out our list because it does have quite a few laughs on account of the material actually being good enough for a whole movie. Harold is a kid who is already developing male-pattern baldness at the age of 13. The movie takes that concept and runs with it through some pretty funny bits as Harold is mistaken for an old man by everyone he meets, ending up in strip clubs, intimidating his sister’s boyfriends, buying alcohol from a liquor store owner who mistakes his ugliness for late-stage alcoholism and, in the film’s funniest scene, is given a vespa by his mom when he requests a go-kart.
While there are some laughs, the jokes can be hit-and-miss but that’s not why Harold is a bad movie. The reason why Harold is a bad movie is because the plot they choose is every generic, clichéd high school set-up that you’ve seen a million times before: the nerdy loser who shows up the bully so he can get the girl at school to like him. This had already been done to death by the time this movie came out and none of the side-characters are funny enough to overcome their bland archetypes. All of the ancillary characters are complete stock roles and you can call every single plot beat before it happens. Still, Harold isn't awful, which I know is not a glowing recommendation but if you catch it while channel-flipping, there are worse ways to kill 90 minutes.
While there are some laughs, the jokes can be hit-and-miss but that’s not why Harold is a bad movie. The reason why Harold is a bad movie is because the plot they choose is every generic, clichéd high school set-up that you’ve seen a million times before: the nerdy loser who shows up the bully so he can get the girl at school to like him. This had already been done to death by the time this movie came out and none of the side-characters are funny enough to overcome their bland archetypes. All of the ancillary characters are complete stock roles and you can call every single plot beat before it happens. Still, Harold isn't awful, which I know is not a glowing recommendation but if you catch it while channel-flipping, there are worse ways to kill 90 minutes.
9. Coneheads
Coneheads is another movie that wasn’t necessarily D.O.A. and could have actually been a pretty good movie in the hands of a more talented writer (the director, in fact, would go on to make the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun, which I think shows that they might have been onto something here). "Coneheads" was one of the earliest SNL sketches, revolving around a trio of aliens who speak in high-tech speech with a poor understanding of social customs. The gag is that literally no one they meet ever catches on that they’re actually aliens. The movie takes this joke a step further as the patriarch of the family admits to an employer that he is an alien and everyone instantly assumes that that means that he’s actually an illegal alien, allowing the movie to act as a satire of the immigrant experience in America.
That could have been a pretty funny set-up. The problem is, once again, that all of the side-characters are so stock. The villain is just a villain, his sidekick is just his sidekick, the daughter’s boyfriend is just the dumb boyfriend. These characters are played by Michael McKean, David Spade and Chris Farley respectively, all very funny actors, but the movie doesn’t give them any funny lines to work with and the Coneheads themselves aren’t intrinsically funny enough to hold a movie on their own. By contrast, while Wayne and Garth and the Blues Brothers (which we will consider the gold standard of these movies going forward) are funny on their own, those movies also had very funny side-characters for them to play off of. Hell, if you go back and watch the original "Coneheads" sketch, you’ll see that the other family are pretty funny in their own right. This movie just seemed like it went out of its way to give them nothing fun to work with. Coneheads could have been a classic but, alas, it was just not meant to be.
That could have been a pretty funny set-up. The problem is, once again, that all of the side-characters are so stock. The villain is just a villain, his sidekick is just his sidekick, the daughter’s boyfriend is just the dumb boyfriend. These characters are played by Michael McKean, David Spade and Chris Farley respectively, all very funny actors, but the movie doesn’t give them any funny lines to work with and the Coneheads themselves aren’t intrinsically funny enough to hold a movie on their own. By contrast, while Wayne and Garth and the Blues Brothers (which we will consider the gold standard of these movies going forward) are funny on their own, those movies also had very funny side-characters for them to play off of. Hell, if you go back and watch the original "Coneheads" sketch, you’ll see that the other family are pretty funny in their own right. This movie just seemed like it went out of its way to give them nothing fun to work with. Coneheads could have been a classic but, alas, it was just not meant to be.
8. The Ladies’ Man
Unlike our previous two entries, The Ladies’ Man is a Godawful set-up for a movie that is somewhat redeemed by its bells and whistles. Leon Phelps, the titular Ladies’ Man, is a smooth lothario who gives very crass dating advice on a radio show that he hosts before ultimately banging anything that moves after he gets off work. The movie is very tepid and stupid and, of course, follows Phelps as he gets fired and must slowly realize his true feelings for his loyal producer who is always at his side. The love interest is boring, the plot goes through every typical contrivance of every romantic-comedy from the turn-of-the-millennium, Phelps’ arc feels like it’s wasting your time and, even by the standards of a raunchy 90s sex comedy, this movie is uncomfortably sexist.
The Ladies’ Man is somewhat salvageable, however, not by Phelps but by the film’s villains. Will Ferrell leads a coalition of men who have all been cucked by Leon Phelps and have dedicated their lives to hunting down the Ladies’ Man and murdering him in revenge. Anytime these characters show up the movie comes alive as they play these guys as being pathetic losers who sometimes begin homoerotic musical numbers to try to salvage their masculinity. I would say the movie’s worth watching for their performances alone but a more accurate sentence would be to say it’s worth watching the movie and fast-forwarding through any scene that doesn’t have them in it.
The Ladies’ Man is somewhat salvageable, however, not by Phelps but by the film’s villains. Will Ferrell leads a coalition of men who have all been cucked by Leon Phelps and have dedicated their lives to hunting down the Ladies’ Man and murdering him in revenge. Anytime these characters show up the movie comes alive as they play these guys as being pathetic losers who sometimes begin homoerotic musical numbers to try to salvage their masculinity. I would say the movie’s worth watching for their performances alone but a more accurate sentence would be to say it’s worth watching the movie and fast-forwarding through any scene that doesn’t have them in it.
7. A Mighty Wind
A Mighty Wind is a very strange and bizarre film to watch. The original sketch was about a folk rock band called The Folksmen who would do some variety music for SNL, much in the vein of the Blues Brothers. Unlike The Blues Brothers, whose jump to film consisted of them going on a manic journey that demolishes the city of Chicago, A Mighty Wind is instead a mockumentary about The Folksmen who decide to get the band back together after their producer dies. In other words, this is basically a ripoff of This Is Spinal Tap, only with folk rock instead of metal and also if This Is Spinal Tap wasn’t even remotely funny.
The fun of a movie like This Is Spinal Tap is that while it’s shot like a documentary about the metal band, Spinal Tap exists in a world with almost cartoonish incompetence, from their rotating gallery of dying drummers to their numerical obsession with their amps. By contrast, the singers in A Mighty Wind are a lot drier which really isn’t that funny. Sure, they’re petty and somewhat stupid but not enough in a way to overcome the mockumentary style. As a result, it never feels quite like a funny enough bit to act as a good enough satire and you just feel confused as to whether or not you’re watching a documentary about a real band.
The fun of a movie like This Is Spinal Tap is that while it’s shot like a documentary about the metal band, Spinal Tap exists in a world with almost cartoonish incompetence, from their rotating gallery of dying drummers to their numerical obsession with their amps. By contrast, the singers in A Mighty Wind are a lot drier which really isn’t that funny. Sure, they’re petty and somewhat stupid but not enough in a way to overcome the mockumentary style. As a result, it never feels quite like a funny enough bit to act as a good enough satire and you just feel confused as to whether or not you’re watching a documentary about a real band.
6. Bob Roberts
Bob Roberts is one of those movies that might have seemed a bit edgy back in the day but now seems quaint in retrospect. Roberts is a country-music star whose music acts as a satire of the Religious Right with most of his songs encouraging good old-fashioned American values with the values in question being most of the hypocrisies of the 80s-and-90s right wing. The movie takes a similar vein to A Mighty Wind in that it is a mockumentary about Roberts as he runs for political office with many of the characters being shocked that a Senate candidate whose only qualification is singing country music is somehow a competitive candidate.
Once again, Bob Roberts’ biggest problem is just how boring and dry it is. Usually mockumentaries use the style to create a cognitive dissonance with something truly bonkers to make it that much funnier. If you were to go into this movie blind, you probably wouldn’t know that Bob Roberts was a completely fictional person. While you might think that this might mean the movie is just outdated considering how much more ridiculous real-life politics have become 30 years after its release date, I don’t think the movie would’ve been going far enough even back then. In the original sketches, Roberts hosts country music concerts about love and America while presiding over book burnings and gay beatings. That kind of over-the-top dark humor is completely missing from Bob Roberts the movie. While this might not be the worst movie on this list, it’s definitely by far the most boring.
5. Blues Brothers 2000
This is the first one on this countdown that is a truly wretched movie. If Wayne’s World 2 succeeded because it avoided doing most of the annoying sequel clichés of the 90s, Blues Brothers 2000 fails because it does just about all of them. Annoying kid sidekick? Check. Constant lampshading of the fact that you’re redoing most of the same story again? Check. Bad jokes? Check. That forced separation where most of the band threatens to leave Elwood Blues (Jake not being in this movie on account of John Belushi being deceased) only to come together in the third act? Check. Poor chemistry between Dan Aykroyd and his co-leads? Check.
The film also rehashes a lot of the same plot elements in the first film, sans the subplot of the orphanage though they replace it with… absolutely nothing, leaving very poor reasons why the Blues Band are even doing what they’re doing. In the first movie, a lot of the fun is the different villains as they end up being chased by the police, neo-Nazis and another band. In this film, they’re chased by… the police, neo-Nazis and another band (and the Russian Mob which is admittedly new). They couldn’t even come up with new villains for them to escape from?
At least the car chase and the music scenes are fun. Though even those are a bit of a problem as if you excluded all the musical songs from this movie, it’d be less than an hour long.
The film also rehashes a lot of the same plot elements in the first film, sans the subplot of the orphanage though they replace it with… absolutely nothing, leaving very poor reasons why the Blues Band are even doing what they’re doing. In the first movie, a lot of the fun is the different villains as they end up being chased by the police, neo-Nazis and another band. In this film, they’re chased by… the police, neo-Nazis and another band (and the Russian Mob which is admittedly new). They couldn’t even come up with new villains for them to escape from?
At least the car chase and the music scenes are fun. Though even those are a bit of a problem as if you excluded all the musical songs from this movie, it’d be less than an hour long.
4. A Night at the Roxbury
As you can probably tell by now, most of these SNL movies were commissioned after the glowing success of Wayne’s World. It’s a bit mystifying why so many got made as you think after the third or fourth bomb they'd stop greenlighting them but I digress. A Night at the Roxbury is the one that feels like the most missed potential. The original sketches consist of the Roxbury guys (Will Ferrell and Chris Cattan) headbanging to “What Is Love” by Haddaway at a club and failing miserably to pick up women. If they truly wanted to rip off Wayne’s World, a smart filmmaker would use this as an avenue to explore/make fun of the 90s techno club/pickup culture in Los Angeles. The movie, of course, doesn’t do that.
What ensues instead is two genuinely funny comedians turning in some of the worst performances of their career as they scream through unfunny joke after unfunny joke. Even the scenes where they fail to pick up women aren’t that funny. The strikeouts start off as humorous but they eventually become so over-the-top and pathetic that you stop laughing at them and just start groaning with cringe at how anybody could be this Goddamned clueless. The movie is actually a fascinating scientific experiment in terms of trying to find the boundary between laughing at a character for being a loser and when a movie character becomes so pathetic that they stop being funny. It’s harder than it sounds because wherever that line is, A Night at the Roxbury plows over it very early in its runtime and never once looks back.
What ensues instead is two genuinely funny comedians turning in some of the worst performances of their career as they scream through unfunny joke after unfunny joke. Even the scenes where they fail to pick up women aren’t that funny. The strikeouts start off as humorous but they eventually become so over-the-top and pathetic that you stop laughing at them and just start groaning with cringe at how anybody could be this Goddamned clueless. The movie is actually a fascinating scientific experiment in terms of trying to find the boundary between laughing at a character for being a loser and when a movie character becomes so pathetic that they stop being funny. It’s harder than it sounds because wherever that line is, A Night at the Roxbury plows over it very early in its runtime and never once looks back.
3. Superstar
Unlike A Night at the Roxbury, there is almost no world where Superstar could have ever worked. Honestly, I don’t even think the original sketch was that funny either. The bit was Molly Shannon being a student at a high school talent show/chorus performance/you get the idea where she’s an obtuse idiot whose talents consist of very gross habits. Stuff like sticking her hands in her armpits and smelling them before performing, popping a zit etc. How do you turn that into a full-length feature film?
By basically making a script that consists of every 80s/90s teen movie cliché known to man. Mary Gallagher has a crush on a popular boy who ignores her but she also ignores the other boy who would be much better. I wonder who she’ll end up with? Her gross habits and obsession with superstardom constantly gets her into trouble with authority figures. I wonder if they’ll get their comeuppance in the end? She and her guardian figure don’t get along. I wonder if they’ll figure out how to bury the hatchet? Basically, if you’ve ever watched Sixteen Candles and wished that it had less charm, more gross-out humor and featured its protagonist masturbating on a tree, then Superstar is the perfect movie for you.
By basically making a script that consists of every 80s/90s teen movie cliché known to man. Mary Gallagher has a crush on a popular boy who ignores her but she also ignores the other boy who would be much better. I wonder who she’ll end up with? Her gross habits and obsession with superstardom constantly gets her into trouble with authority figures. I wonder if they’ll get their comeuppance in the end? She and her guardian figure don’t get along. I wonder if they’ll figure out how to bury the hatchet? Basically, if you’ve ever watched Sixteen Candles and wished that it had less charm, more gross-out humor and featured its protagonist masturbating on a tree, then Superstar is the perfect movie for you.
2. Stuart Saves His Family
"Daily Affirmation with Stuart Smalley" was another recurring SNL sketch that, to be brutally honest, doesn’t seem like it was ever that funny to begin with. Stuart Smalley was a parody of the new-age 12-step programs that were a big thing in the 90s as he hosts a show where he gives out therapeutic advice despite not being a licensed therapist. The obvious and better joke here would be an unlicensed therapist confidently giving out unhealthy advice but instead the writers chose the track of Stuart always believing in positive affirmations even in the wake of clearly bad news. Like The Ladies’ Man, this is a sketch that mostly just involves its star sitting in the studio and making jokes; not something that would lend itself well to a movie. Unlike The Ladies’ Man, which to its credit did have the self-awareness to know exactly what it was, this movie is a victim of its own ambition.
Stuart Saves His Family revolves around Stuart going back to his childhood home in the Midwest after a death in the family and using his therapeutic skills to heal the rift in his family that his abusive, hyper-alcoholic father has created. This is not a funny set-up for a comedy. This is a genuinely horrible, emotionally toxic position to be in. Not to say that this is a bad idea for a film; you could make a great drama out of that set-up. But having a cartoonish SNL caricature being thrust into this situation creates a bizarre case of tonal whiplash. The movie wants you to take it seriously but you can’t because of Al Franken’s plastic grin and ridiculous way of speaking yet it’s also clearly not funny because the number of actual jokes in this film could be counted on your fingers and you're clearly supposed to feel uncomfortable by the scenes of emotional abuse. Stuart Saves His Family is the only SNL movie that might have actually been angling to be Oscar-bait and fails miserably on just about every cylinder. I will give 'em points for ambition on this one though more points will have to be taken off for failure to perform.
Stuart Saves His Family revolves around Stuart going back to his childhood home in the Midwest after a death in the family and using his therapeutic skills to heal the rift in his family that his abusive, hyper-alcoholic father has created. This is not a funny set-up for a comedy. This is a genuinely horrible, emotionally toxic position to be in. Not to say that this is a bad idea for a film; you could make a great drama out of that set-up. But having a cartoonish SNL caricature being thrust into this situation creates a bizarre case of tonal whiplash. The movie wants you to take it seriously but you can’t because of Al Franken’s plastic grin and ridiculous way of speaking yet it’s also clearly not funny because the number of actual jokes in this film could be counted on your fingers and you're clearly supposed to feel uncomfortable by the scenes of emotional abuse. Stuart Saves His Family is the only SNL movie that might have actually been angling to be Oscar-bait and fails miserably on just about every cylinder. I will give 'em points for ambition on this one though more points will have to be taken off for failure to perform.
1. It’s Pat
If you’re even remotely aware of this film’s existence, then this should come as no surprise to you as It’s Pat is universally regarded as not only the worst SNL movie but also one of the worst movies, period. Pat is another long-time recurring SNL character whose androgynous appearance and mannerisms makes it impossible to tell if they’re a boy or a girl. The sketches revolved around other characters asking leading questions or manipulating situations to try to get Pat to confirm their gender and Pat being completely oblivious. That’s it. Literally one joke of misunderstanding stretched out for 3-5 minutes and you’re done. How do you make something like that into an entire 80-minute movie? The answer is that you don’t.
I would try to describe the plot but there really isn’t one. It’s Pat is basically 80 minutes of just watching Pat… do... stuff. First, Pat asks someone out on a date. Then Pat performs on a national TV show playing the sousaphone. Then Pat’s a disc jockey at a radio station. Then Pat gets intimidated by some gangbangers and decides to get a haircut. The only thing resembling a plot is Pat’s next-door neighbor (played by Charles Rocket) trying to determine Pat’s gender, ultimately going to dark, film noir-esque extremes to figure it out. To Charles Rocket’s credit, he’s trying his absolute hardest to make this character funny and it probably would have worked if it wasn’t for just how stupid this is.
In case this doesn’t sound like enough of a waste of time, Pat themself is also one of the worst movie characters ever concocted. Besides being of indeterminate gender, the other defining characteristics of Pat is that they have a very nasally, irritating voice and generally act like an obnoxious twat to everyone in their vicinity. Again, a character being this insufferable is okay for 5 minutes but any longer than that (and this movie is much, much longer than that) and you feel like reaching into your screen to punch them upside the head. Watching an AI-written sitcom revolving around Jar Jar Binks and Short Round would be more pleasant to the ears than spending 80 minutes with Pat.
The very fact of It’s Pat’s existence just seems to boggle the mind. How did they think these jokes were funny? How did they think this movie needed no plot? Who put money on this project and seriously expected to get it all back? Why did they keep trying after 5 of these movies bombed in a row? While SNL movies have clearly had more misses than hits, none ever missed so badly as It’s Pat. Let me put it this way: watching the other 9 movies on this half of the list in a row would be far and away more tolerable to sit through than even just 20 minutes of It’s Pat.
I would try to describe the plot but there really isn’t one. It’s Pat is basically 80 minutes of just watching Pat… do... stuff. First, Pat asks someone out on a date. Then Pat performs on a national TV show playing the sousaphone. Then Pat’s a disc jockey at a radio station. Then Pat gets intimidated by some gangbangers and decides to get a haircut. The only thing resembling a plot is Pat’s next-door neighbor (played by Charles Rocket) trying to determine Pat’s gender, ultimately going to dark, film noir-esque extremes to figure it out. To Charles Rocket’s credit, he’s trying his absolute hardest to make this character funny and it probably would have worked if it wasn’t for just how stupid this is.
In case this doesn’t sound like enough of a waste of time, Pat themself is also one of the worst movie characters ever concocted. Besides being of indeterminate gender, the other defining characteristics of Pat is that they have a very nasally, irritating voice and generally act like an obnoxious twat to everyone in their vicinity. Again, a character being this insufferable is okay for 5 minutes but any longer than that (and this movie is much, much longer than that) and you feel like reaching into your screen to punch them upside the head. Watching an AI-written sitcom revolving around Jar Jar Binks and Short Round would be more pleasant to the ears than spending 80 minutes with Pat.
The very fact of It’s Pat’s existence just seems to boggle the mind. How did they think these jokes were funny? How did they think this movie needed no plot? Who put money on this project and seriously expected to get it all back? Why did they keep trying after 5 of these movies bombed in a row? While SNL movies have clearly had more misses than hits, none ever missed so badly as It’s Pat. Let me put it this way: watching the other 9 movies on this half of the list in a row would be far and away more tolerable to sit through than even just 20 minutes of It’s Pat.
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