MR. SATURDAY NIGHT (1992) ***

I caught this highly overlooked film last night on basic cable.

It's a very personal project for Billy Crystal, who directs and stars as Buddy Young, Jr., an aging, bitter comedian whose life throughout four decades is explored in this picture.

Starting with some terrific lines about the mountains of not-particularly-healthy food that awaited them at dinnertime, Buddy and his brother, Stan (David Paymer) entertain for the family. Years pass and Buddy's brother is now his manager. The film bounces back and forth throughout the years, occasionally returning to the present, where Buddy is now entertaining senior centers and not getting the same sort of reaction he got years prior. His brother believes that it's finally time to close the curtain on his career.

The film really walks a fine line between being too sentimental and genuinely heartbreaking. There's a particular quality about David Paymer's terrific performance that allows him to be intelligent, hurt and sympathetic; after years of withstanding Buddy's sarcastic comments and insults, he realizes that when he says that "he can't do this anymore" this time, he really means it. This takes place in an early scene in a diner - Buddy's gotten older, but there's finally a flicker of recognition after all these years that he may have hurt or neglected those who have loved him.

Crystal's performance is the best of a series of fine efforts contained in the film. You get the feeling that he knows a wealth comedians similar to Buddy Young, Jr. He has the timing down, he connects with the sort of arc that some of these entertainers must face, going with the lows and highs of the great years until they finally find themselves fading. As previously noted, Paymer's performance is a delight; the two work off one another believably and really seem like brothers. Julie Warner is sweet and engaging as Crystal's wife, while Helen Hunt is fine in an early performance as a possible new agent for Buddy.

If anything, Crystal could have even made the film even better had some editing been done. At a run time of around two hours, there are a few scenes that could have been deleted to help the pace of the film. As is, it's not a groundbreaking or hugely memorable picture, but there's some really poignant and sharply funny moments, as well as strong performances.