''Saving Silverman'' (internationally titled ''Evil Woman'') is a 2001 American romantic comedy film directed by

Dennis Dugan Dennis Barton Dugan (; born September 5, 1946) is an American film director, actor, and comedian. He is known for directing the films ''Problem Child (film), Problem Child'', ''Brain Donors'', ''Beverly Hills Ninja'' and ''National Security (20 ...

and starring

Jason Biggs Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor. The accolades he has received include a Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award, alongside nominations for a Daytime Emmy Awards, Daytime Emmy Award and a Satellite Award ...

Steve Zahn Steven James Zahn ( ; born November 13, 1967) is an American actor. In film, Zahn is best known for his lead roles in '' That Thing You Do!'' (1996), '' Happy, Texas'' (1999), '' Joy Ride'' (2001), ''National Security'' (2003), '' A Perfect Geta ...

Jack Black Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for roles in family and comedy films, in addition to his voice work in animated films. His awards include a Children's and Family Emmy ...

, and

Amanda Peet Amanda Peet (born January 11, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career with small parts on television before making her feature film debut in ''Animal Room'' (1995). Her portrayal of Jill St. Claire in ''The Whole Nine Yards (film), Th ...

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and ...

has a

cameo role A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking one ...

playing himself. In the film, Darren Silverman's longtime friends try to save him from marrying his controlling new girlfriend, whose behavior threatens the friends, their band, and Darren's chance at happiness with his lifelong true love.

Plot

Darren Silverman, Wayne LeFessier, and J.D. McNugent, best friends since fifth grade and

fans throughout, form a Neil Diamond

tribute band A tribute act, tribute band, tribute group or tribute artist is a Musical ensemble, music group, Singing, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act. Tribute acts include individual performers who mimic the so ...

called Diamonds in the Rough. Through a chance encounter in a local bar after a band gig, Darren meets Judith Fessbeggler, a beautiful but domineering

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

who shows signs of being emotionally abusive. Six weeks into their relationship, Darren asks her if they could finally have sex, but Judith refuses until marriage. She suggests non-penetrative sex instead, so Darren gets nothing but a sore jaw. Judith isolates Darren from his friends, demands that he quit the band, receive humiliating medical procedures, and attend relationship counseling under her care. Wayne and J.D. decide to save Darren from her by attempting to bribe her, arm wrestle her, and finally shock her with faked photographs of Darren cheating, all to no avail. The friends, undaunted, try to reunite Darren with his "one and only", Sandy Perkus, when she returns to Seattle before she takes her final vows as a nun. When Darren and Judith announce their engagement, Wayne and J.D. kidnap her. However, she discovers the identity of her captors, and the duo are convinced they cannot let her go. When they visit Coach Norton in jail (who accidentally killed a referee with a football signal pole in a fit of rage) he suggests they just kill her. The pair attempt to shoot Judith, but end up deciding against it. Sandy's feelings for Darren are reawakened, but their attempted date is ruined by his preoccupation with Judith. Sandy, disheartened, returns to the convent, but Darren snaps out of it and runs the there to win her back. Chained to an engine block in Wayne's garage, Judith helps J.D. realize he is gay. She knocks him unconscious to steal his keys and escape, only to be tranquilized by Wayne. Returned to the garage, Judith seduces him into releasing one of her hands, so she escapes again. She runs to Darren's house in time to see him kiss Sandy, but shames him into confessing his engagement to her. Sandy, disappointed, returns to the convent again. Darren has Wayne and J.D. arrested. Escaping from jail with Coach Norton's help, J.D. and Wayne rush to the convent on the brink of Sandy's final vows as a nun. Convincing her that Darren still loves her, they then kidnap Neil Diamond to help Darren and Sandy reunite. At the wedding, Neil stalls the proceedings with the song "Hello Again" while Darren and Sandy reunite. Wayne and Judith (the latter being furious that her wedding is ruined) beat each other up (as love play) and J.D. arrives holding Coach in his arms, who coincidentally reveals to J.D. that he too is gay. The couples then wed onstage at Neil Diamond's concert: Darren to Sandy, Wayne to Judith, and J.D. to Coach.

Cast

as Darren Silverman *

as Wayne Leferssier *

as J.D. McNugent *

as Judith Fessbeggler *

Amanda Detmer Amanda Detmer (born 1971/1972) is an American actress. She made her big screen debut playing Miss Minneapolis in 1999 comedy film ''Drop Dead Gorgeous (film), Drop Dead Gorgeous'', and later had a supporting role in ''Final Destination (film), F ...

as Sandy Perkus *

R. Lee Ermey Ronald Lee Ermey (March 24, 1944 – April 15, 2018) was an American actor and United States Marine Corps, U.S. Marine drill instructor. He achieved fame for his role as Gunnery sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in the 1987 film ''Full Met ...

as Coach Norton *

as himself *

Kyle Gass Kyle Richard Gass (born July 14, 1960) is an American musician and actor, best known for being a member of Tenacious D, a Grammy-winning comedy band. He is also a member of Trainwreck and the Kyle Gass Band. Early life Kyle Richard Gass was ...

as Bar guy * Christopher Logan as Vagee, Darren’s band replacement * Jared Van Snellenberg as Belston *

as referee (uncredited)

Production

This film falls within a cross-genre film type from the late 1990s and early 2000s in which grooms are saved, or nearly saved, from distasteful marriage.Adam Sternbergh (January 28, 2004)
"The Devil Wears Pearls: In recent movies, grooms across America flee their frigid fiancees"

Slate Magazine ''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former ''The New Republic, New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as ...

. Cast member Jason Biggs said the film is based on "a universal problem" of girlfriends who control who their partners are friends with.Steve Head (January 24, 2001).
I Am... I Said Saving Silverman
.

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

Movies. Retrieved December 11, 2009. ''Saving Silverman'' was filmed in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

from June 7 to August 2000 at a cost of US$22 million.

said humorously, "I was dragged into this project kicking and screaming." He wrote and composed a new song, "I Believe in Happy Endings", for the film.

Reception

''Saving Silverman'' has a score of 18% (an average rating of 3.7 out of 10 based on 103 reviews) on review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

. Its critical consensus states, "Dragged down by a plot lacking any sense of logic and obnoxious, unsympathetic characters, this comedy is more crude and mean-spirited than funny."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gives it an average score of 22% based on 29 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The film opened at No. 3 at the North American box office making US$7.4million in its opening weekend. The film grossed a domestic total of $19,402,030 and $26,086,706 worldwide from a $22 million budget. It opened behind '' The Wedding Planner'' and ''

Hannibal Hannibal (; ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Punic people, Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Ancient Carthage, Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Punic War. Hannibal's fat ...

'', which opened at the top spot.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saving Silverman 2001 films 2001 black comedy films 2000s buddy comedy films 2001 LGBTQ-related films American black comedy films American buddy comedy films American LGBTQ-related films Columbia Pictures films 2000s English-language films Films set in Seattle Films set in Washington (state) Films shot in Vancouver Films directed by Dennis Dugan Films produced by Neal H. Moritz LGBTQ-related black comedy films Village Roadshow Pictures films Original Film films 2000s American films English-language black comedy films English-language buddy comedy films