Stuart Saves His Family

Released 1995
Stars Al Franken, Laura San Giacomo, Vincent D'Onofrio, Shirley Knight
Directed by Harold Ramis
 
This movie was largely ignored due to the crappy SNL spinoffs that were released in the same year. This was a shame, because it's by far one of the best SNL spinoffs ever. It's a wonderful movie. What makes it so great is Stuart's family. They're three-dimensional characters as opposed to one-dimensional plot devices, and they ground the movie in reality. Everyone will recognize his parents and siblings from either their own family or a friend's.

While it's very funny, it's also quite moving. In fact, the relationships are so real, my friend's wife couldn't watch it. It was too much like her own childhood, and she had to leave the room. The movie's tagline was "You'll laugh because it's not your family. You'll cry because it is." Believe it.

Summary by Bill Alward