Stuart Saves His Family

Plot

Stuart Smalley (Al Franken), the disciple of the 12-step program, 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 abuser brother (Vincent D'Onofrio), and support his overweight mother (Shirley Knight) 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

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. It also received many negative reviews, including those from Variety, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film scores 30% with an average rating of 4.7/10 of 27 reviews counted.

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 and Bad Boys) over his.

The film was not universally panned. 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." The film also received good reviews from The Washington Post, Deseret News, and the Chicago Reader.

Franken mentioned his depression following the film's failure in his 2003 book, Oh, the Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness. In a 1999 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Franken stated that he was "very proud" of the movie.

Home video

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