Saving Silverman
| Saving Silverman | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Dennis Dugan |
| Produced by | Bruce Berman Warren Carr Bernie Goldmann Brad Luff Neal H. Moritz Bill Whitten Peter Ziegler |
| Written by | Hank Nelken Greg DePaul |
| Starring | Jason Biggs Steve Zahn Jack Black Amanda Peet |
| Music by | Mike Simpson |
| Cinematography | Arthur Albert |
| Editing by | Debra Neil-Fisher |
| Studio | Village Roadshow Pictures Original Film |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 9, 2001 |
| Running time | 90 minutes (Theatrical) 93 minutes (Special edition) 96 minutes (R-rated cut) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $22 million |
| Box office | $26,086,706 |
Saving Silverman is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan. It stars Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black and Amanda Peet. Neil Diamond has a cameo role playing himself. In the film, Darren Silverman's longtime friends try to save him from marrying his controlling new girlfriend, whose behavior threatens the friends, their band, and Darren's chance at happiness with his lifelong true love.
Outside North America, the film was titled Evil Woman.
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[edit] Plot
Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs), Wayne LeFessier (Steve Zahn) and J.D. McNugent (Jack Black), best friends since fifth grade and Neil Diamond fans throughout, form a Neil Diamond tribute band called "Diamonds in the Rough". Darren meets a beautiful but domineering psychologist, Judith Fessbeggler (Amanda Peet), through a chance encounter in a local bar after a band gig. Unfortunately, six weeks into their relationship, Judith is still making Darren watch her change clothes, and though sleeping together is satisfying for her, Darren gets nothing but a sore jaw. Judith isolates Darren from his friends, demands that Darren quit the band, receive humiliating medical procedures and attend relationship counseling under her care. Wayne and J.D. decide to save Silverman from her by attempting to bribe her, arm wrestle her, and shock her with faked photographs of Darren cheating, all to no avail.
The friends, undaunted, try to reunite Darren with his "one and only", Sandy Perkus (Amanda Detmer), when she returns to Seattle to take her final vows as a nun. When Darren and Judith announce their engagement, Wayne and J.D. kidnap Judith. When they visit Coach Norton (R. Lee Ermey) in jail, his advice is that they should just kill her. Sandy's feelings for Darren are reawakened, but the pair's attempted date is ruined by Darren's preoccupation with Judith. Sandy, disheartened, returns to the convent, but Darren snaps out of it and runs the 30 miles there to win her back.
Chained to an engine block in J.D.'s basement, Judith convinces J.D. he is gay. She knocks him unconscious to steal his keys and escape, only to be tranquilized with a dart gun by Wayne. Returned to the basement, Judith seduces Wayne into releasing one of her hands, so she escapes again. She runs to Darren's house in time to see him kiss Sandy, but shames him into confessing his engagement to Judith. Sandy, disheartened, returns to the convent again. Darren has Wayne and J.D. arrested. After escaping from jail with the help of Coach Norton, J.D. and Wayne rush to the convent on the brink of Sandy's final vows as a nun. They convince her that Darren still loves her. They then kidnap Neil Diamond to help Darren and Sandy reunite. At the wedding, Neil stalls the proceedings with song while Wayne and Judith beat each other up (as love play), Darren and Sandy reunite, and J.D. arrives holding Coach in his arms, and come out as gay to each other.
On stage at the Neil Diamond concert that night, the priest weds Darren to Sandy, Wayne to Judith, and J.D. to Coach; the entire cast sings "Holly Holy".
[edit] Cast
- Jason Biggs - Darren Silverman
- Steve Zahn - Wayne Lefessier
- Jack Black - J.D. McNugent
- Amanda Peet - Judith Fessbeggler
- Amanda Detmer - Sandy Perkus
- R. Lee Ermey - Coach Norton
- Neil Diamond - Himself
- Kyle Gass - Bar guy
[edit] Production
Broadly based on the Bollywood 80-s rom-com Chashme Baddoor, this film falls within a cross-genre film type from the late 1990s and early 2000s in which grooms are saved, or nearly saved, from distasteful marriage.[1] Cast member Jason Biggs said the film is based on "a universal problem" of girlfriends who control who their partners are friends with.[2]
Saving Silverman was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia[3] at a cost of USD$22 million.[4] Neil Diamond said humorously that "I was dragged into this project kicking and screaming."[2]
[edit] Reception
Reviews of the film were broadly negative, earning the film a 18% critic rating at Rotten Tomatoes (with the site's consensus stating: "Dragged down by a plot lacking any sense of logic and obnoxious, unsympathetic characters, this comedy is more crude and mean-spirited than funny.")[5] and 22/100 at MetaCritic.com.[6] Box office revenues were low. Worldwide theatrical gross was $26,086,706.[7] Rental income was $21.75M[8] for VHS and $5.19M for DVD.[9] The film opened at #3 at the North American box office making $7.4 million USD in its opening weekend, behind The Wedding Planner, and Hannibal, which opened at the top spot.
[edit] Home video release
Saving Silverman was released in two versions on home video - the PG-13 version that had been released in theaters, and the original R rated cut. The differences between the two versions are mostly dialogue changes and small additions to certain scenes, although two new scenes do appear, with some other scenes in the movie swapped around to compensate for the longer run time.
[edit] References
- ^ Adam Sternbergh (January 28, 2004). "The Devil Wears Pearls: In recent movies, grooms across America flee their frigid fiancees". Slate Magazine.
- ^ a b Steve Head (January 24, 2001). "I Am... I Said Saving Silverman". IGN Movies. Retrieved December 11, 2009.
- ^ Saving Silverman locations from the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Laura Jackson (2005). Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion. ECW Press. p. 215. ISBN 9781550227079. http://books.google.com/books?id=1MCvNbOTdSgC&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&f=false.
- ^ "Saving Silverman at Rotten Tomatoes". Rottentomatoes.com. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/saving_silverman/. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ "Saving Silverman at MetaCritic". Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/savingsilverman?q=Saving%20Silverman. Retrieved 2007-04-02.
- ^ "Box Office for Saving Silverman at Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=savingsilverman.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ "VHS Rental info for Saving Silverman at Video Business". videobusiness.com. http://www.videobusiness.com/info/CA627026.html. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ "DVD Rental info for Saving Silverman at Video Business". videobusiness.com. http://www.videobusiness.com/info/CA627027.html. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Saving Silverman |
- Saving Silverman at the Internet Movie Database
- Saving Silverman at Box Office Mojo
- Saving Silverman at Rotten Tomatoes
- Saving Silverman at Metacritic
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