Mr. Saturday Night (1992)

'Mr. Saturday Night' was something of a passion project for its star and director Billy Crystal who plays the fictional Bubby Young Jr., a borsch belt and early television comic in this character study come comedy/drama. Crystal acts more then one is used to in this, usually he just plays a version of himself but this is a distinct character, who unlike Crystal is not a particularly likable man. This was an obstacle for me at first but I grew to understand what he was doing and this is probably his greatest performance as an actor. David Paymer, a very reliable character actor got his lone Oscar nomination as Buddy's brother and agent, this was in the best supporting field and he earned it. I wanted to see this when it first came out but couldn't because it was rated R, I was very into the whole 50's esthetic at the time, though most of this film is set in the 90's with flash backs, the old age makeup is not great but not awful. ***