One More Saturday Night

SNL's Tom Davis recently passed away. He was known for his collaborations with Al Franken. While their SNL stuff was their most famous work (as well as an appearance in "Trading Places" as the luggage handlers), another collaboration was this 1986 comedy about a band performing in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The band's arrival is more of a conduit for a series of crazy events throughout the town, as the teenagers get into all sorts of mischief. In that sense, the movie does seem a little disjointed, but the crazy stuff that the different characters do makes up for that. "One More Saturday Night" isn't really anything special, but still OK. I bet that no one predicted that one of the cast members would one day get elected to the US Senate.

Life on a Saturday night in St. Cloud gets wackier with hijinks and shenanigans as the evening progresses.

Written and starring Al Franken and Tom Davis (known for 'Trading Places' and 'SNL'), director Dennis Klein does his best with a script that required just a little more polish. Surprisingly, Dan Ackroyd also acts as executive producer on this coming-of-age drama comedy, which is a broken-up tale. The main relationship of Diane and her jock boyfriend plot isn't focal enough, the hilarious father date, the babysitting house party, ear-piercing thief subplot, and Diane's brother using 'The Great Escape' to help him track down a robber. Even if some outcomes are unexpected, Franken and Davis' subplots are not rounded and don't intertwine enough to make for a clever romp, but they are nonetheless entertaining.

Stunning actress Nan Woods, channeling Molly Ringwald, does her best with what she's given, knocking it out of the park when it comes to talking about her mother. Chelcie Ross as Dad Ludhal is notable as Diane's father on his first date.

Backdropped with a great soundtrack, One More Saturday Night's setups are there, with a few laugh-out-loud one-liners littered throughout. But the execution and pacing is bumpy, with the feeling that it has a lot to say, but says nothing at all. That said, the small town vibe, the uncensored, innocent lack of political correctness of the 80s that means no harm is refreshing. Reminiscent of 'Secret of My Success,' 'Career Opportunities,' 'Bachelor Party,' and 'Adventures in Babysitting,' to name a few (only on a lower budget), making Klein's offering an interesting time capsule of sorts.

Overall, while Klein's obscure, forgotten comedy is hit and miss, it oozes nostalgia and 80s vibes, and worth watching for that alone.

First of all, if you read Leonard Maltin's review of this film...forget he wrote it. Leonard Maltin's been wrong about a lot of reviews, and this is one of them. In fact, you shouldn't trust any critic about any movie. Your eyes are the one watching the movie for your brain...not theirs. Ok, to finally get to my review of "One More Saturday Night": it is a good movie. The only thing you need to remember before watching it is that the movie takes place in a town in Minnesota, on one particular Saturday night. There are a few different plots to follow, but it's nothing that will confuse even the slowest viewer. The movie stars (although it doesn't freely admit it) Al Franken, best known for his work on Saturday Night Live and his political commentaries. He does a believable performance as a nerdy-like and very likable star of a band that's doing a stop-over for a gig in the town. Franken's character doesn't try to come off being too suave, nor does he do any over-acting at all in the movie. The rest of the stars also do a good part in making the movie go along. Best of all, the movie's jokes are funny. Sure it's a dumb kind of funny most of the time, but a laugh is a laugh. The bottom line is, as long as you aren't picky about your movies, this is the movie for you. It's re-playable too (you won't get sick of it the first time out...unless you're the picky type that I mentioned).

Having first heard of this movie when writer/star Al Franken plugged it on "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live" during the season finale in 1986, I had long been curious about it and just now watched it on the Crackle site. He and partner Tom Davis play the leading members of rock band Badmouth who stop at St. Cloud, Minnesota, for a gig while various teenagers in town have their own adventures during one Saturday night. I'll stop there and just say that as the authors, Franken & Davis give nuanced style to the situations and characterizations that gradually takes one to heights of hilarity as the narrative goes on before once again going back to the subtler route. So don't expect the wacky hijinks of a Caddyshack or Wayne's World here. Which means the R-rating is mostly for a few scenes of the f-word being said. So on that note, I highly recommend One More Saturday Night. P.S. While Meshach Taylor is the only other cast member I recognized in name and face having watched "Designing Women" a lot, I had watched "China Beach" during the early seasons but was unaware that the woman who played Cherry there-Nan Woods-was Diane here. Besides her, other natives of my birthtown of Chicago that appeared here include Frank Howard, Nina Siemaszko, Mike Hagerty, and Nathan Davis who also died there (as did Second City veteran Del Close who played Mr. Schneider/Large Tattooed Man here). Oh, and much of the movie was shot around my birthtown.

This is not your typical "kid at the high school party" type of movie like the title makes it sound. It follows the happenings of a few kids and their crazy adventure on one Saturday evening in St. Cloud, MN (actually filmed entirely in Illinois). Unfortunately, it didn't gain as much cult status as other movies of its time, but it's a great flick to catch if you can! Al Franken fans will love this rare glimpse of Franken in the role of a traveling band member! The characters are fun to follow and may remind you of people YOU may have gone to high school with and heard of THEIR antics while out on Saturday nights. It's available on VHS (who knows IF a DVD will come out or not...try eBay if you're having trouble finding a copy for your library)