''Stuart Saves His Family'' is a 1995 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Harold Ramis Harold Allen Ramis (; November 21, 1944 – February 24, 2014) was an American actor, comedian, director and writer. His best-known film acting roles were as Egon Spengler in ''Ghostbusters'' (1984) and ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), and as Russell ...

based on a series of ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'' sketches from the early to mid-1990s. The film follows the adventures of would-be self-help guru

Stuart Smalley Stuart Smalley is a fictional character created and performed by comedian and satirist Al Franken. The character originated on the television show ''Saturday Night Live'', in a mock self-help show called "Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley." I ...

, a creation of comedian

Al Franken Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...

, as he attempts to save both his deeply troubled family and his low-rated

public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was creat ...

show. Some of the plot is inspired by Franken's book, ''I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations by Stuart Smalley''. The film was produced by

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

. Co-stars include

Laura San Giacomo Laura San Giacomo (born November 14, 1962) is an American actress. She played Cynthia in the film ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female, Kit De Luca in the film ''Pretty Woman ...

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

Shirley Knight Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...

, Lesley Boone and

Harris Yulin Harris Yulin (born November 5, 1937) is an American actor who has appeared in over a hundred film and television series roles, such as '' Scarface'' (1983), ''Ghostbusters II'' (1989), '' Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), '' Looking for Richard' ...

. Julia Sweeney, Joe Flaherty,

Robin Duke Robin Duke (born March 13, 1954) is a Canadian actress, comedian, and voice actress. Duke may be best known for her work on the television comedy series '' SCTV'' and, later, ''Saturday Night Live''. She co-founded ''Women Fully Clothed'', a ske ...

Richard Riehle Richard Riehle (born May 12, 1948) is an American character actor. He portrayed Walt Finnerty on ''Grounded for Life'' (2001–2005) and The Warden on ''The Young and the Restless'' (2007). He also appeared in over 200 films, including '' Glory' ...

, future

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...

ring announcer

Justin Roberts Justin Jason Roberts (born December 29, 1979) is an American professional ring announcer currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Roberts regularly announced for its pay-per-v ...

and

Kurt Fuller Kurt Fuller (born September 16, 1953) is an American character actor. He has appeared in a number of television, film, and stage projects. He is best known for his roles in the films '' No Holds Barred'' and '' Ghostbusters II'' (both 1989), '' ...

have cameo roles.

Plot

Stuart Smalley (

), the disciple of the

12-step program Twelve-step programs are international mutual aid programs supporting recovery from substance addictions, behavioral addictions and compulsions. Developed in the 1930s, the first twelve-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), aided its member ...

, is challenged by life's injustices. He loses his public-access cable television show, must beg his manipulative overbearing boss for his job back, rehabilitate his alcoholic father and drug abusing brother (

), and support his overweight mother (

) and sister (Lesley Boone) in their lack of ability in handling their relationships with their husbands. Stuart is supported by his 12-step sponsors as he regresses to his negative behaviors each time he faces these challenges.

Cast

as Stuart Smalley *

as Julia *

as Donnie Smalley *

as Mrs. Smalley * Lesley Boone as Jodie Smalley *

as Dad * Julia Sweeney as Mea C. * Joe Flaherty as Cousin Ray

Production

Al Franken created and played the character Stuart Smalley in ''Saturday Night Live'' sketches; in 1992 Franken wrote a book, in character as Stuart, titled ''I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!: Daily Affirmations by Stuart Smalley''. After reading the book, Harold Ramis approached Franken about developing it into a movie. According to Franken, Ramis was largely responsible for making the movie happen.

Reception

The film was a failure at the box office, earning only $912,082. This followed the box-office failures of other SNL-adaptations. Shortly after the movie left the theaters, ''Saturday Night Live'' featured a "Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley" sketch that parodied the poor box office returns. Stuart was depressed and bitter throughout the entire segment and lambasted the audience for choosing other movies (such as ''

Dumb and Dumber ''Dumb and Dumber'' is a 1994 American buddy comedy film directed by Peter Farrelly, who cowrote the screenplay with Bobby Farrelly and Bennett Yellin. It is the first installment in the ''Dumb and Dumber'' franchise. Starring Jim Carrey a ...

'' and '' Bad Boys'') over his. In a 1999 appearance on ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

'', Franken stated that he was "very proud" of the movie. However, in his 2003 book '' 'Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness,'' Franken mentioned his depression following the film's failure.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 30% based on reviews from 27 critics, with an average rating of 4.7/10 . On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

it has a weighted average score of 54% based on reviews from 16 critics. It received a nomination for Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy at the

1995 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards The 18th Stinkers Bad Movie Awards were released by the Hastings Bad Cinema Society in 1996 to honour the worst films the film industry had to offer in 1995. When asked about their picks for the five worst movies of the 1990s, founders Mike Lanca ...

, which it lost to '' Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls''. Siskel & Ebert each gave the film a " thumbs up" rating, with Siskel calling it "smart and hip" and Ebert saying that "it has more courage than a lot of serious films."

Home media

''Stuart Saves His Family'' was released on VHS in October 1995; it was released on DVD on April 17, 2001. In 2007, the film was packaged with two other Lorne Michaels productions, '' Wayne's World'' and '' Coneheads'', to be sold as a "triple feature". In 2013,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

acquired the management of Paramount's DVD library, and added ''Stuart Saves His Family'' to their Warner Archive Collection.

References

External links

* *
Review
of the movie by Roger Ebert {{Authority control 1995 films 1995 comedy films American comedy films Saturday Night Live films Saturday Night Live in the 1990s Films set in Minnesota Films set in Chicago Films directed by Harold Ramis Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by Al Franken Films scored by Marc Shaiman Films produced by Lorne Michaels 1990s English-language films 1990s American films