Save Some Jokes Scrap the Rest
Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs - American Pie), Wayne Le Fessier (Steve Zahn - Forces of Nature
) and J.D. McNugent (Jack Black - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) have been friends since childhood when they found they had a shared love of Neil Diamond. And after they finished High School and went their own way with careers they still remained tight. That is until Darren fell for Judith Snodgrass-Fessbeggler (Amanda Peet) a man eater who tames their friend much to their annoyance. So to save Darren when he tells them that they are getting married, Wayne and J.D. come up with a plan to kidnap Judith and convince Darren that she dumped him so that he will revert back to his old ways and hopefully a much nicer older girlfriend.
There are movies which I look forward to and then there are movies which give me an ominous feeling and "Saving Silverman" which is called "Evil Woman" in the UK was one of those ominous movies. And the reason can be put down to three degrees of funny; I like Jason Biggs and he is usually funny in the lamest of comedies, Steve Zahn can be funny but often gets lousy scripts and dumb characters to work with and then there is Jack Black whose over enthusiasm to be funny can end up being nothing more than aggravating. And sadly that is how "Saving Silverman" plays out with Jason Biggs being likeable whilst Steve Zahn is often daft but fun and Jack Black's enthusiasm is sadly over powering.
The sad thing is that "Saving Silverman" has the basis for an amusing movie with Judith being this domineering woman who turns Darren into a brow beaten boyfriend whilst his friends try to save him. The trouble it that instead of sticking with that it feels like a movie which comes up with one set piece after another from Darren getting butt cheek enhancements to an accident with a reclining chair. Now in fairness some of the jokes are funny, the whole thing about the three friends having their own Neil Diamond tribute band is amusing as is the initial hen pecking but it grows tiresome as the jokes go off on too many tangents.
What this all boils down to is that "Saving Silverman" is more miss than hit as it ends up becoming a movie of set pieces. The sad thing is that when it hits it "Saving Silverman" is good, it is just a shame it doesn't hit it often enough.
