You know the film. It’s a film you have never heard of. The cast might be composed of actors you know and love or complete unknowns. A documentary that sounds interesting about a topic you might like. You stumble across it on streaming and wonder if it will be worth two hours of your time. This series will be devoted to reviewing films like these, the strange items that pop up when you are looking for a flick on the streaming service of your choice. This is “We Found It On Streaming”
During our celebration of Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary, we will be devoting this feature to films found on streaming with some ties to the sketch program. This installment covers a film documentary celebrating the life of one of SNL’s biggest stars, Gilda Radner.
FILM: Love, Gilda
Release Date: September 21, 2018
Run Time: 88 Minutes.
Streaming Service(s): Hulu, Amazon Prime
Rating: Not Rated
Gilda Radner was one of the brightest stars to come out of Saturday Night Live. Bubbly and vivacious, she had comedy chops to equal or surpass her more overpowering male costars. When the media wanted to paint her, Jane Curtain, and Laraine Newman as “Chevy’s Girls,” she broke away from the pack and proved that she was one of the funniest members of the cast regardless of gender. She was a comedienne with an outward personality and an innate likability so grand that she was destined to become a breakout star. She was a performer that was so full of life that it made her death at 42 of ovarian cancer incredibly tragic.
Her life has the making of a powerful documentary biography. That makes it puzzling why Love, Gilda is so bland and tame.
If you are at all familiar with Radner’s life, you will see Love, Gilda for what it is: a perfunctory retelling of Gilda’s life that moves from life event to life event with brutal efficiency. Lisa D’Apolito’s film follows Gilda from childhood until her death in its 88 minutes, but it leaves you wanting more. And, as a fan, I know there is more out there that they could have included.
Other than that, the biggest flaw in the film is that there are too many “talking heads, ” both in the category of people who knew Gilda and the people who she inspired. Every documentary has this. But you shouldn’t have people as a talking head if they have nothing to say.
Having Amy Poehler, Bill Hader and Melissa McCarthy in the film does get eyes in to watch your trailer, but when people come to the movie and all those celebrities do is moon over Gilda’s diaries for a scene or two, it seems like a waste of talent. Poehler at least manages to say something about how Gilda influenced her, but Hader’s only contribution is saying how honored he is to be holding Gilda’s diaries, adding nothing to the film.
For Gilda’s contemporaries, the people who are supporting characters in her story, they don’t fare much better. Due to the film’s quick, in and out approach to telling its narrative, the people who knew Gilda the best are brought in for the section where their lives intersected, say a word or two and are never seen again.
For example, only Chevy Chase, Lorne Michaels and Newman are interviewed from Gilda’s time on Saturday Night Live. Now, you can’t control who you can get for your documentary, and considering one of her castmates is dead and two dated her and might not be willing to revisit her memory, the pool was small to begin with.
But I’m sure Michaels could speak on Gilda for 90 minutes easy all by his lonesome, and everything he would have to say would be interesting. He only appears maybe two times tops in the documentary. Newman could have contributed a lot about her and Gilda being women in that environment. But the film did choose to go there. And the “best” part about Chase’s contribution is when he works in his beef with John Belushi, like maybe he forgot which deceased castmate’s documentary he was appearing in.
The saddest part about the documentary doing a speed run through Gilda’s life to have a run time under an hour and a half is that it limits the time they talk to Gilda’s family and life-long friends. To the documentary’s credit, they get more screen time than the rest of the talking heads, but they deserved more still. You could tell that they missed Gilda even though she was gone almost 30 years by the time they were interviewed. They provide the rare, little heard perspective on Gilda’s life. I would have liked to have heard more of it from them. With a little more run time or a lot less useless testimonials, we could have.
The best part of the documentary is their contribution. A close second is the amount of home movies that the documentary uses. From birthday parties when she was child to parties with the SNL cast to the heartbreaking filmed hospital visits by Gene Wilder while Gilda was battling cancer, the moments allow us entry into a Gilda we did not see on TV. These moments give a tease of what a fuller documentary could have been. And seeing footage from the legendary 1972 Toronto production of Godspell is a thrill.
If you are just learning about Gilda Radner or were just a casual follower of her life and legend, the film might be more enjoyable for you. You might not realize that you are getting a Cliff’s Notes version of her life. But if you were a Gilda Radner fan or a fan of Saturday Night Live, you will be wishing for a longer, more informative tribute to one of America’s best comediennes.
Have you found a film on streaming that you’d like us to look at? Leave it in the comments and it might appear in a future installment of this feature.
