Ranking the SNL Films
A five-minute comedy sketch doesn't always translate to big laughs on the silver screen.
'Coneheads' -
Paramount Pictures
When it comes to movies based on SNL characters, there are a few classics and a lot of train wrecks. Here's a handy guide to help you know which ones are worth adding to your Netflix queue: The Enduring Classics Includes: The Blues Brothers, Wayne's World The Blues Brothers, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi's absurd musical adventure, was the first movie based on an SNL sketch and to this day it remains the best. Coincidentally, the only other SNL movie to ever come close to matching its genius was Mike Myers and Dana Carvey's Wayne's World -- another comedy about two music-obsessed buddies.
Includes: Wayne's World 2, Blues Brothers 2000 Unfortunately, Lorne Michaels and the actors involved didn't know how to leave well enough alone and sullied the reputations of the only two genuinely great SNL movies with lame sequels. Wayne's World 2 felt like it was made from the scraps left on the cutting room floor of the first film. And as for Blues Brothers 2000, I have to believe there was at least one person involved who knew they had no business making another Blues Brothers movie without John Belushi. Unfortunately, that person didn't have as much clout as the person who said, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny to put a kid in a Blues Brothers costume?" The Ones That Were Kind of OK When They Came Out Includes: Superstar, Stuart Saves His Family Molly Shannon's Superstar is by no means a great movie. But it did succeed on one level that many other SNL films fail on -- it remained true to the spirit of the source material (Shannon's ambitious-yet-awkward Catholic schoolgirl character, Mary Katherine Gallagher). Superstar failed to make one out of Molly Shannon, but it pleased her fans, which is a respectable accomplishment. The same can be said for (Senator!) Al Franken's oddly dramatic Stuart Saves His Family, which was pulled from theaters before even grossing $1 million, but has gained a tiny but devoted cult following on DVD. The Ones That Made You Hate the Beloved Sketches They Were Based On Includes: Coneheads, A Night at the Roxbury Pointy-headed aliens who speak in robot voices and struggle to fit into human society. Two guys in cheap suits who annoy girls by bumping up against them at nightclubs. How exactly were these concepts supposed to entertain us for an entire 90 minutes?
Includes: The Ladies Man, It's Pat When I was in college, I watched The Ladies Man with a group of friends sitting on the floor of a 19-year-old freshman guy's dorm room. These were clearly the conditions in which it was meant to be viewed, and yet none of us found anything remotely funny about Tim Meadows' disco-suited radio love guru. And the entire concept behind Julia Sweeney's gender-ambiguous weirdo Pat was too off-putting to ever get the easy laughs SNL movies aim for. If a character barely works on the show, chances are they're not going to be any funnier on the big screen. MacGruber, take note. Most Popular Stories
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