Saving Silverman (2001)-"PG-13"

Run Time:90 minutes

1 and 1/2 stars out of 4

This new comedy from Dennis Dugan, director of Big Daddy and Happy Gilmore, is basically easy laughs and a formulated script, but it isn't absolutely terrible. The plot follows three best friends (since grade school), Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs), Wayne Lefessier (Steve Zahn, and J.D. McNugent (Jack Black), all in their late twenties. They are just cruising through life, working marginal jobs and playing for fun and cash in a Neil Diamond tribute band, Diamonds in the Rough. Then this girl, Judith (Amanda Peet) comes along and Silverman falls in love with her, despite her horrible attitude and all-around meanness. Judith despises Wayne and J.D., and she has complete control over Silverman, so she refuses to let them be friends anymore, or play in the band together. Wayne and J.D. kidnap her and stage a fake death, in order for Silverman to lose his fixation with her and stay friends with them. Silverman's high school sweetheart, Sandy Perkus (Amanda Detmur) then comes back to town, and Wayne & J.D. stop her from becoming a nun, so she can reunite with Silverman and save their friendship. But, things don't go perfectly with the kidnapping and it takes the help of an ex-con/former high school football coach (R. Lee Ermey from Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Neil Diamond to resolve the story. The ending is predictable, the plot nonsensical (even ludicrous at parts), and the laughs are cheap and easy, making fun of Asians and nuns for the most part. The only redeeming factor for me in this movie were a few well-placed, if not super-intelligent, jokes that made me smile. The acting wasn't completely horrible either, but the direction was pretty bad, canceling that out. This movie is marginal at best, and barely distinguishable from all of the other poor romance-comedies that seem to come out every year.