Superstar (1999)

Directed by Bruce McCulloch; Starring Molly Shannon, Will Ferrell, Emmy Laybourne, Elaine Hendrix, Glynis Johns, Mark McKinney, Harland Williams, and Tom Green

As if there was any question of how I would feel about this film as I walked in. I’ve pretty much been the official Saturday Night Live alumni nay-seer. I’ve spent countless hours telling of hatred over SNL skits turned films like A Night at the Roxbury and Coneheads, hey, I even initially disliked Wayne’s World. This always disheartens me because I am one of the biggest fans of sketch comedy. I’ve grown up to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, sketch comedy at its very best. And I’ve helped to point people towards great shows like The Kids in the Hall, The Tom Green Show, and Saturday Night Live. When I’d watch a funny skit on SNL about the guys who would be tarnished on-screen in A Night at the Roxbury, I’d laugh and remember how funny the running skit was in future years, but now when I think of those characters, I remember how unfunny the film was. But at least with all those aforementioned skits turned films, I liked the skits from SNL, a note I cannot say about Superstar.

Mary Catherine Gallagher (Shannon) is a Catholic school girl that wants one thing in life: a real kiss. When she falls in love with the school’s master dancer and big man on campus, Sky (Ferrell), she finds that she must compete with the possessive cheerleader that Sky goes with named Evian (Hendrix). Evian attempts to make Mary’s life a living hell. All along there are some friends that Mary picks up in her class for “special students” including a silent biker with the eyes for Mary (Williams).

Directed by McCulloch of Kids in the Hall fame and featuring Tom Green in a small role, the film is a disgrace to all sketch comedy. I guess that I’m just going to have to turn to South Park for any comedy that has yet to be tarnished (though BASEketball is still hard to forgive Parker and Stone for). The whole film is a mess with very, very little redeeming moments. In fact off the top of my head I can only think of one moment in the film in which I actually came near laughing, a small moment from Tom Green. The only sketches on SNL that I think I could handle in the theatre are now Celebrity Jeopardy (“This must be my lucky day, I’ll take The Rapists for 400”) and Star Wars original screen-tests (“Before we puts the spaghetti ins the machine, what the hell is a wookie?”).

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