Stuart Saves His Family (1995)

Director:

Harold Ramis

Writers (WGA):

Al Franken (screenplay)
Al Franken (book)

Release Date:

12 April 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

You'll laugh because it's not your family. You'll cry because it is.

Plot:

Stuart Smalley, the Saturday Night Live character, comes to the big screen. Stuart, the disciple of the 12 step program...

Plot Keywords:

Saturday Night Live | Public Access | Based On TV Series | Accidental Shooting | Hunting

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Al Franken	...	Stuart Smalley
Laura San Giacomo	...	Julia
Vincent D'Onofrio	...	Donnie - The Smalley Family
Shirley Knight	...	Mom - The Smalley Family
Harris Yulin	...	Dad - The Smalley Family
Lesley Boone	...	Jodie - The Smalley Family
John Link Graney	...	Kyle - The Smalley Family
Marjorie Lovett	...	Aunt Paula - The Smalley Family
Walter Robles	...	Smalley Uncle - The Smalley Family (as Walt Robles)
Erik Cord	...	Smalley Uncle - The Smalley Family
Denver Mattson	...	Smalley Uncle - The Smalley Family
Grant Hoover	...	Young Stuart - Flashbacks
Cory Milano	...	Young Donnie - Flashbacks
Michelle Horn	...	Young Jodie - Flashbacks
Harris Laskaway	...	Mr. Dimmit - Flashbacks (as Harris Laskawy)

Also Known As:

Stuart Stupid - Eine Familie zum Kotzen (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and substance abuse.

Runtime:

Brazil:96 min | USA:95 min

Country:

Germany | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Canada:PG | USA:PG-13 (No. 33363) | Spain:T | UK:12 (video premiere) | Sweden:11

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Stuart is reliving his recurring dream about saving his father's life, you can see the top of the airbag while the stunt man is falling from the roof.

Quotes:

[Opening of Stuart's show "Daily Affirmations"]
Stuart Smalley: I deserve good things, I am entitled to my share of happiness. I refuse to beat myself up. I am an attractive person. I am fun to be with.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Bob Saget/TLC (#20.19)" (1995)

Soundtrack:

I Want To Be Happy

A kind of serious comedy

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.