review for Mr. Saturday Night on AllMovie  Mr. Saturday Night
(1992) by Matthew Tobey review  Epic in scope and incredibly
ambitious, Billy Crystal's directorial-debut has plenty of good
qualities, but is ultimately an exercise in self-indulgence and
biting off more than he can chew. Serving as writer, director,
producer, and star, Crystal can't exactly avoid shouldering the
lion's share of the blame either. What could have been a complex
character study of a fictional comic legend instead gets bogged
down by Crystal's amateurish directing and insatiable need to
showcase himself. There's a good movie in there somewhere,
though. Most likely it lies in the supporting characters. If
Crystal had the ability to give up more screen time to David
Paymer, Jerry Orbach, or Helen Hunt, he might not have ended up
with such an uneven film. On the whole, Paymer's performance and
the fact that the film remains sporadically interesting despite
its flaws render Mr. Saturday Night worthy of at least a peek.