‘SNL’ at the box office | StarTribune.com
It’s depressing that so many "Saturday Night Live"-inspired movies are D
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It’s depressing that so many "Saturday Night Live"-inspired movies are D.O.A. in theaters — almost all of them, in fact, with "MacGruber" joining the not-ready-for-Hollywood pack after a horrible opening last weekend. Maybe 5-minute comedy sketches can’t be successfully stretched to feature length.
In dishonor of the latest "SNL" cinematic spinoff, her are the three best movies based on the TV show’s characters — not the usual five, considering the shortage of possibilities — and the three worst (plenty to choose from).
1. The Blues Brothers (1980): Proving beyond any doubt that turning sketch comedy into movies is a bad idea, the best "SNL" movie by far isn’t based on a sketch. Dan Aykroyd and the great John Belushi transformed love of the blues into a band that "SNL" creator Lorne Michaels first allowed on the air only because they wore bee costumes while performing Slim Harpo’s "I’m a King Bee." From those purely musical roots, Aykroyd and director John Landis created an interesting back story and quest for Jake (Belushi) and Elwood (Aykroyd) that "SNL" writers never could, leading to soul-shaking showdowns with such legends as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown — not to mention a record number of demolished police cars.
2. Wayne’s World (1992): With one "schwing!" of the bat, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey knocked it out of the park on TV, playing airhead heavy metal fans hosting a public access cable TV show in Wayne’s parents’ basement. A movie version was inevitable, and funnier than anyone expected, yanking the boys out of the basement for a network TV gig. Wayne (Myers) falls for a singer (Tia Carrere) and mocks a romantic rival (Rob Lowe) while Garth (Carvey) mopes. The "Bohemian Rhapsody" lip-sync scene is classic; just try getting through the bridge without banging your head.
3. Coneheads (1993): It’s a long way down to choosing the third-best "SNL" movie — another Aykroyd creation, about a family of aliens consuming mass quantities of beer and potato chips.
1. It’s Pat (1994): Even the possibility of revealing the gender of Julia Sweeney’s sexually ambiguous character could bring fans into theaters. Not that they could find "It’s Pat" there, anyway. Disney took the movie off its release schedule but allowed a few midnight showings that tanked. Why? A rare zero score from Rotten Tomatoes and a spot on the Internet Movie Datebase’s list of worst movies ever list is empirical proof of the movie’s awfulness.
