starring al franken , laura san giacomo , vincent d'onofrio , and harris yulin . review by laurence mixson ( <a href= " mailto : venom8@hotmail . com " >venom8@hotmail . com</a> ) a fully loaded entertainment review - website coming in july ! i didn't really expect very much when i rented stuart saves his family . the movie bombed at the box office , and i had never really liked the saturday night live sketch on which the movie was based . my real concern , though , was the general reputation of snl-related movies translating to the big screen with less-than-stellar results ( half-baked , anyone ? ) i was surprised to discover a truly entertaining , often hilarious yet also touching little film . it is an al franken production through-and-through , who not only created the title character but also wrote and starred in the picture . for those of you who don't know , al franken plays a guy named stuart smalley , who has a really annoying show on a public-access station about increasing your self-esteem , etc . although not a licensed therapist , stuart smalley is , as the program proudly boasts , " a graduate of several 12-step programs . " stuart is doing well enough with his tv show , but he keeps getting distracted by family troubles . stuart's relatives are a mess : his dad and brother ( harris yulin and vincent d'onofrio , respectively ) are alcoholics , his sister is overweight and getting over another divorce , and his mom is in constant self-denial and solves all perceived problems by baking . then , disaster strikes . stuart accidentally insults the manager of the station and gets his show revoked . he is forced to move back in with his family after he can no longer support himself , and there the comedy truly picks up . franken wrote all of the characters not just as cliches or stereotypes , but as sharply-drawn , real people . although smalley's dad has always imbibed too much , stuart can still recall times when his father seemed like an okay guy . also , after an accident towards the end of the movie , both stuart and the audience learn that there is more to his mother than previously thought . although filled with small , very funny scenes , stuart saves his family also has its share of dramatic moments , especially towards the conclusion . for a lightweight comedy , it handles these scenes especially well , often better than many so-called " serious dramas " of today . all the more amazing is that such a movie comes from a saturday night live sketch that is essentially a one-joke bit . if you feel like renting a comedy , and you haven't seen this film , i definitely recommend you try this one out . you'll laugh . . . you'll cry . . . . it's all there . 
