DVD : Saturday Night Live - 25th Anniversary
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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Lions Gate
EAN: 0031398115847
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Lions Gate
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Lions Gate
Region Code: 1
Release Date: February 24, 2004
Running Time: 160 minutes
Sales Rank: 17029
Studio: Lions Gate
Theatrical Release Date: 2000
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/06/2007
Amazon.com:
Like many of the clips that make up the bulk of its content, the Saturday Night Live 25th Anniversary special suffers from that malady specific to almost every SNL sketch: it starts out brilliantly, loses steam about halfway through, then slowly but gamely limps to the finish line with occasional spurts of humor. This special (which actually marks the show's 24th anniversary, but never you mind about those small details!) gathered almost all of the Saturday Night Live alumni--well, the funny ones, anyway--for a celebration of the show's entrenchment in the cultural landscape. It's basically an occasion to show a lot of clips, ranging in time from the Coneheads to Mary Katherine Gallagher, put together in a sprightly, rapid-pace manner and interspersed with occasional live audience-interaction bits. An hysterically funny Bill Murray kicks things off as a lounge singer at an Indian reservation casino who hobnobs with the celebrity audience members; Tom Hanks, a fave guest host, offers up a lively Q&A session (with a dryly funny Christopher Walken, among others); and Billy Crystal revives his Fernando persona to great effect. Dan Aykroyd, Laraine Newman, and Steve Martin provide the best cast tribute, warmly remembering John Belushi while wryly offering up memorabilia for online auction, and Jan Hooks introduces a heartfelt short film featuring her and the late Phil Hartman. Other cast members, with the notable absence of Eddie Murphy and the surprise appearance of Norm MacDonald, pop up for various intros of clips--some are funny (Dennis Miller), some are not (Adam Sandler), some are obviously uncomfortable (David Spade), but at about the halfway mark it all starts to wear on you, like most tribute shows. Still, the stable of classic skits (including a surprisingly strong showing from the current cast) make this worth sticking around for. And at least this time, unlike during the live broadcasts, you can fast-forward through the unfunny parts. --Mark Englehart
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
all the classics, really laugh out loud. some skits seem flat now. but others, while outdated ,give
nice feeling of nostalgia. also some favorites are deceased now and that
makes it more a treasure. ck
Rating:  -
This DVD functions more or less as an advertisement for the other SNL DVDs that have been and continue to be marketed by NBC. The 25th anniversary special on this DVD lasts 2.5 hours, which sounds like a long time, but it's not long enough to do justice to the talent that appeared on the shows over such a long period of time. As uneven as the show was from week to week and year to year, there was still a lot of great material--far too much to cover in this format in any satisfying way. As a result, the clips that are shown are soundbites of soundbites--often, just enough to cover a famous quote ("wild an crazy guys," etc.) with a touch of lead-in. This may be enough to evoke a smile of nostalgia from someone who's seen the skits, but that's about it. When the skits were originally aired, they usually went on too long, but here the DVD's producers err by going way too far in the opposite direction. I'm not sure how you could do a worthwhile retrospective of 25 years worth of programming that would fit on one DVD, but if it can't be done... maybe one shouldn't do it.
The DVD comes with three "extras": an interview of Lorne Michaels by Tim Russert, which is mildly interesting; the "day-after" coverage of the 25th anniversary show by a heinous TV show I never heard of, "Access Hollywood"; and promotional TV coverage by some other NBC news show, which featured clips that mostly overlapped with the special included on the DVD. Again I ask: Why put this material on a DVD? ... Read More
Rating: -
I only started watching SNL in early 2001 after moving to the US from Britain, and hadn't heard much of it before then apart from knowing that was where the Blues Brothers movie etc had originated. I soon became an avid watcher, partly because of a teeny weeny crush on Tina Fey but also because I loved Will Ferrell and Jimmy Fallon, amd later on, Rachel Dratch and Amy Poehler.
I bought this DVD because I was keen to have a look for myself at some of the older stuff that other SNL fans were in raptures about. I have to say some of it was a bit dated, somewhat inevitably, but a lot of it was still very funny. I guess the people putting it together avoided topical political stuff, which quickly dates, although some of the stuff like impressions of various presidents holds up well.
On a slightly macabre level, I loved the opportunity to watch people who have since died, particularly the outstandingly charismatic performers such as John Belushi and Chris Farley. In fact, the funniest thing on the whole show for me was Chris Farley interviewing Paul McCartney - funny and sweet all at the same time!
The show is put together pretty smoothly, with current performers coming out and introducing each set of skits, which fits well with the DVD format since I can skip easily to the bits I regularly rewatch - I do think it could have been divided into shorter sections though. The introductions were quite variable in quality as other reviewers have pointed ... Read More
Rating: -
SNL- 25th Anniversary really shows the best of the best. Running about 2 hours and 40 minutes long, you get the history of the show for sure. The musical guests were excellent, and the tributes to the ones that have sadly passed on were touching and times very sad especially when Jon Lovitz can barely speak when having to give an intro to the memory of Phil Hartman because he is literally holding back tears.
This is a loving tribute to the first 25 years of SNL and I really do pray that it will go on for 25 more, and I really do think it will
Rating: -
I haven't seen anything this funny in a long time. There doesn't seem to be anyone in Hollywood (who's funny) that isn't on this DVD. The old (Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtain, The Blues Brothers, etc.) and the newer (Mike Meyers, Chris Rock, Will Farrell, etc.). Some of the best SNL ever and the DVD has got to be over 3 hours long. I really enjoyed this and will watch it many times with my friends and family. You get your money's worth here, and more.
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