Gilda Radner: It's Always Something (2002 TV Movie) User Reviews

So Much More To Gilda!

[christian_grrrl2006 · 6/10 · 3 January 2008]

I was born 2 years before Gilda died. I just saw this movie for the first time last week when I bought it but...I have read and re-read her book numerous times.

This movie I don't think, did her justice by any means. I think Jami Gertz is a great actress and I believe she did an all right job portraying Gilda.

BUT Nowhere in this movie does it mention her abortion when she was younger which she later blamed for her inability to procreate.

It mentioned her miscarriages a bit...but it didn't show her heartbreaking struggle to have children. That was the one thing Gilda wanted most. A baby girl she was going to name Lily.

It did NOT mention Gilda and Gene living in Conneticut. Nor did it come close to showing the countless doctor visits she had...or the different things she tried to slow down the cancer.

They didn't elaborate on her career. She made movies with Gene. She was doing Haunted Honeymoon when she started having pains from the then unknown cancer.

Gilda was a FANTASTIC person. Inside and out. It would have been an absolute honor to meet her. But this movie didn't show anywhere near all the amazing things Gilda did...it was about her "suffering" her entire life.

This movie made Gilda seem like a self-obsessed neurotic woman. She was the exact opposite. She cared about everyone she knew. This made her life seem like 42 years of sadness.

She had problems like everyone does. But she had amazing times also. When Gene FINALLY asked her to marry him...being on SNL...

Once she got sick she found support and friendship in Joanna Bull and the Wellness community. Sure she was upset that she had cancer as was everyone who knew...but she didn't let cancer stop her from being funny. Gilda was funny...funny was Gilda. Plain and simple.

Gilda was taken too soon. I think it says A lot about a person when someone hears about them or sees them in a movie 10-15 years after they die and become completely captivated by them and strive to keep their spirit alive.

I didn't know who Gilda was until I was about 17. Now. I buy everything that she was connected to. I have read her book, watched old SNL, her movies...and I have realized that we have so much in common. Or did. I would have loved to have been her daughter but with a happier ending. :) VIVA LA GILDA...

Never Mind

[Lloisnbill · 6/10 · 29 April 2002]

I thought that I would have a hard time accepting anyone as Gilda Radner but Gilda Radner, but it wasn't that hard to swallow. I thought Jami Gertz did a pretty good job and kind of slipped into her so much that it wasn't so hard to buy. She even looked like her which helped. The actors who played Gene Wilder, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Laraine Newman also did a good job. Sometimes it was comforting just to know that their voices sounded like who they were supposed to be. All in all, I thought that this film was pretty entertaining and would probably watch it again.

Amazing performance

[queenzulu · 9/10 · 1 May 2002]

Jami Gertz may not be the most noticed actress in Hollywood, but her portrayal of the talented legend, Gilda Radner, will get her noticed for sure. I already knew the whole story of Gilda since she captivated me (despite the fact that I was too young to remember her in her heyday) Who didn't Gilda captivate? The legend alone deserves a talent to play her, and that is exactly what it got. In this honest and touching story of Ms. Radner's life, Jami Gertz looks, sounds and acts not only like Gilda, but like the characters that Gilda portrayed on Saturday Night Live's classic early years. As well as Jami Gertz, the rest of the cast portray the other actors in such a way that you don't have to guess who it's supposed to be, it's obvious. There is no "Is that supposed to be Bill Murray?" instead there's, "Oh, look it's Bill Murray!" Gene Wilder is also portrayed perfectly, I found it almost eerie seeing this movie, because it was as if we were really watching them. However, like most Hollywood movies about peoples' lives there are some parts that are "stylized" for effect such as flashbacks, dreams etc... to add to the drama. The difference is in this case it is done well and even enhances the story telling rather than make it look silly. Besides the phenomenal acting, the other excellent aspect of this movie is that it captures the feeling of Gilda herself- despite tragedy, it is uplifting, funny and triumphant, the three things I always thought about her before this movie was ever made.

Wowie wow wow wow!

[breacain · 30 April 2002]

it should have been awful.

it was a dangerous premise, having mostly unknown actors portray legends, most of whom are still living. (belushi and all the other original snl cast, plus eugene levy, gene wilder, and more.)

these guys did faithful, believable renditions. (i.e. the gene wilder guy had the speech patterns down pat. and the belushi guy resisted the urge to play it loud and cartoonish.)

prepare to be disappointed by some of belushi and murray's behavior. to respect lorne michaels. to admire laraine newman.

but most of all, prepare to fall madly, deeply in love with gene wilder.

from everything i know, the storytelling was journalistically accurate, and despite the unhappy ending, it is not a sad movie.

it got a little surreal watching these impostors do recreations of classic snl sketches. i kept waiting to be offended or have my intelligence insulted or to get bored.

i loved it from beginning to end. i hope they rerun it so i can make everyone i know watch it.

All out of skew

[snlra-1 · 3/10 · 11 May 2006]

This movie didn't do it for me, an avid SNL fan for the past 14 years. Jamie Gertz' portrayal was OK, but there was something so off-putting about the movie itself. The facts presented in the movie are totally skewed. But Merv Griffin produced it, so that would explain a lot. He was never on SNL, nor had anything to do with it. The points in her life when she was on SNL are backwards. When we first see her on SNL, walking through the studio with Lorne Michaels, the logo on the wall is circa 1988-1989, not 1975. And let's talk about the cast -- who are these people?? I have never heard of a one of them. Truly dissatisfying. This movie shows why TV movies are just that, TV movies.

Exceptional!!!

[bourgetrider · 10/10 · 30 April 2002]

Jamie Gertz can really do comedy! She pulled it off with out getting syrupy or schmaltzy. I really enjoyed seeing her in a role like this. She could easily play the strong female lead. Please no more pompous roles. The actor who played Gene Wilder sounded so much like him. The way he carried himself was like watching some of the old TV interviews I remember seeing him as a kid. The story was well written with out getting caught in the "pitty me" which was so not Gilda. It shows the struggle that the disease brought her. It even brought out the fact that Gilda and Bill Murray had an affair. Including the dream sequences shows us Gilda's anxieties about her life. "It's Always Something" as a biopic is excellent. As television has a tend to gloss over much of the "grit" that attracts audiences to these shows. It did not do it here.

A sad tale about a funny woman indeed

[keysdan · 8/10 · 29 April 2002]

This movie was very well put together for a made for TV. I found myself on many various points on the emotional spectrum. I enjoyed the SNL days. I also enjoyed the insight into her personal life. All in all, a fine family film.

Gilda was about so much more than this movie portrays

[magdalene65 · 30 April 2002]

Like the rest of America in the 1970s and 80s, I loved Gilda Radner. Every Saturday night, there we were glued to our televisions, sometimes past our bed times, to watch SNL. Gilda was the crown jewel amongst precious gems in this wonderful show.

And, like the rest of America, I also agonized with her during her battle with cancer. But there was so much more to Gilda than just that disease. So, when I read that there was to be a movie on ABC about her life, I was undecided about whether to watch or not. I was afraid that this movie, The Gilda Radner Story: It's Always Something, would focus mainly on the end of her life rather than on the Gilda we all knew and loved. And, sadly, it turns out I was right.

While the movie did go through the natural timeline of her childhood, rise to comedic stardom first in Toronto, and arrival in New York and so on, there was always a foreshadowing present in, it seemed, every scene about the cancer that was to finally appear in her thirty-ninth year of life. We saw Gilda smoking, eating red dye number whatever, using saccharine, being bulimic and/or anorexic, drinking alcohol, etc., etc. And, of course, there were extensive references to her family's history of cancer (her father died of a brain tumor, her mother fought, and survived, breast cancer).

I mention it was her thirty-ninth year because she spent less than ten percent of her life being ill, yet it seems that eighty per cent of this movie is about what was to come at the end. I don't think Gilda would have liked that very much. I read her book and, believe me, it was NOT all about carcinogens and disease! True, she did have a difficult time dealing with her father's death when she was only a young girl. True, she did mention many of the things touched on again and again in the movie. But she also told some wonderful stories that were cut from this script! And, aside from the book, I remember many other wonderful Gilda stories.

When Gilda and Gene Wilder married (weren't we all entranced by such a wonderfully funny and loving couple?), they lived in Connecticutt. Before she became ill, I remember that she appeared on a popular late night show. Crazy person that she was, she took her entire neighborhood with her to New York for that appearance and brought them all on stage! Who has ever done such an outrageous thing? Yet that was not documented in the movie. Nor were so many other things that would have given a much truer, and lighter, picture of who Gilda Radner really was. Certainly, there could have been so many more scenes highlighting her life with Wilder, which must have been really wonderful. That was what I'd hoped the movie would be about. I mourned the absence of such scenes not only for myself, but for the benefit of the generation who does NOT remember who Gilda Radner really was.

Gilda was about living, loving, laughing, giving, and so much more. She died of cancer, but she was not about cancer.

Jamie Gertz did a fine job of portraying Gilda Radner. The actor who portrayed Gene Wilder was on the mark. Brilliantly cast, as well, were those who portrayed Bill Murray, Jane Curtain, Larraine Newman, John Belushi, and all the others who played such significant roles in Gilda's life. But I have a suggestion for all those who saw the movie and think they now know Gilda. Watch old SNL on late night TV, and rent her movies. Read her book upon which the movie is based. You will come away knowing a lot more about who the real Gilda was than if you just watch this movie.

Very moving...well done story

[Intenselan · 10/10 · 30 April 2002]

I have seen and admired the work of Gilda Radner, and I believe this version of her life to be very well thought out, well written, and insightful.

Jami Gertz portrayed Gilda with strength, power, and conviction. I could hear the real Gilda Radner echoing through her.

I rate it very high. Thank you.

Excellent!

[Monika-5 · 30 April 2002]

What an excellent TV movie. For once, it's not self-pitying and depressing (though, of course, the subject matter is very sad), but it celebrates Gilda and how she chose to deal with her terminal illness with laughter. Jami Gertz did a phenomenal job in the title role, and I never realized before that she does bear quite a likeness to Gilda. Her love and marriage with Gene Wilder is also handled well, and I can't help but wonder what the real Gene Wilder thinks of the film. The movie had me in tears. I recommend it.

Jami Gertz

[betsypear1 · 28 July 2003]

I think that Jami Gertz should have been nominated for an Emmy for her performance, especially her rendition of the Rosanne Rosannadana routine on SNL. I thought her performance was excellent, and think overall she's a talented actor (my husband and I were just watching her in "Twister" last night and she gives a great performance there as well).

Painful

[mercuryix · 1 February 2003]

I'm not quite sure why they decided to take the story of a very funny and joyful comic actress and suck all the joy out of her life and story. According to this adaptation of her autobiography, Gilda was a self-destructive person with low self-esteem who never had a happy moment. In fact, she had a lot of them, which she created herself. Her romance with Gene Wilder is presented as the only bright spot in her personal life, and even that is permeated with sadness. It's as if the producers decided that since she died of cancer, her whole life had to be a premonition of it. This makes for a screenplay that has basically one level. If they had allowed the story of her life to have happy moments along with the sad ones, the ending would have been a lot more poignant. You have to have light to contrast with the dark, but here it is all the same level, strangely gloomy.

We learn nothing of the other main characters, other than that Murray can be a jerk (is this a surprise?). In one overdone scene in particular, Gilda is persistently asking him about spending Christmas together (just before they are to go on to do a...yes, you guessed it...Christmas sketch, with Murray playing Jacob and Gilda playing Mary). Murray says something along the lines of "Will you please just BACK OFF???", then turns to one of the shows producers and huffs "I swear, this is the last time..."(the last time, what? Like he has a choice in whom to appear with on the show?). Then they go on like the pros that they are, to entertain their audience, despite their personal pain. This is called juxtaposition, you see, contrasting what's going on in front of the camera with what is behind, so you get a heightened sense of irony; did you get it? The scene is just as ham-fisted as I described it. The rest of the movie is as cliched and superficial as this moment, and the lead's very good performance is wasted. We keep waiting to learn a little more about the other cast members (the actor playing Garrett Morris is almost used as a prop) and we never do. I'm not quite sure why they had to produce such a dreadful script. A lot of effort went into the casting; it's almost as if they thought that was enough. Unfortunately, it's not, and the movie is painful to sit through. Gilda (and the actress who played her) deserved better.

Three stars.

Please Ignore the Previous Unjust Comment

[peatricker · 4 October 2004]

I adored Gilda Radner and I was pleasantly surprised by this biopic of her life. To call this movie "insipid", "treacly" or a "hack movie of the week" is to be seriously unjust. It is definitely a cut above your average TV movie. Jami Gertz does a truly great job as Gilda and at times is almost uncanny in her physical resemblance to the great comedienne. Likewise Eric Siegel who is very good as John Belushi. If you were a true fan of Gilda and you don't at least threaten to shed a tear during the cancer sequences then you've got a hard of stone. As for me I cried my eyes out - it once again brings home to you the cruel nature of the world we live in when so many great people die young for no explicable reason. Anyway give this a chance and you will be rewarded - it was obviously a labour of love for those involved in its making. The only caveat I have is that the actor cast as Gene Wilder is way to serious for his role and is seriously lacking in comic ability and the script at times depicts him as a bit of a selfish monster.

Lovely...Touching

[tikishakesgrl · 29 April 2002]

This movie is amazing, it tells the life of great comedienne, Gilda Radner. It is so believable, that at the touching parts I cried. Jami Gertz looked and acted so much like Gilda, for a moment you'd think she was Gilda. The guy that played Gene Wilder, played a convincing part, but the chemistry isn't there, or at least the way I pictured it. It was like a love story, that somehow went wrong at the end. She is such a great person, I wish I've met her because I know we would have been best friends. Great movie! I recommend that you watch it!

"Never mind" this maudlin mess

[mercutio24 · 29 April 2002]

I haven't read the autobiography upon which this made-for-TV piece was based, but as someone who greatly admires Radner's work, I'm pretty disappointed in this insipid flick. I was hoping for an insightful behind-the-scenes look at the stories behind Radner's comedy, but instead was presented with a treacly piece of hack movie-of-the-week style melodrama. There are a few interesting surreal touches, such as *SPOILERS* a scene where an entire SNL studio audience turns into Radner's father, and a nice scene of Radner finding out she has cancer montaged with the "saccharine" number from her Broadway show, *END SPOILERS* but overall the film -- "I call it a film, not a movie" :-) -- was far more sugar-substitute than treat. You'd be far better off renting Best of Gilda Radner, The (1989) (V) than watching this.

WOW!

[tamas22 · 29 April 2002]

This made-for-TV film -was the BEST possible adaptation of Gilda Radner's "It's Always Something" Jami Gertz --always an ok actress --was FANTASTIC here --this is truly a breakthrough role --and I think, a performance that might well win her an Emmy Award. I --was dazzled! Hope it gets repeated soon -was sorry I didn't tape it!

Great film!!

[ShelbyTMItchell · 13 May 2005]

This is a good movie about the late SNL star as Jamie Gertz plays Gilda like it was Gilda that come alive. She has a loving family(in particular a loving father who may have influenced her to become a comedienne). She makes groundbreaking history as one of the few women comedienne's at the time. Also she and the SNL cast become very popular as the Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time-Players originals. Though her films weren't box office hits, her SNL legacy will live on. The only positive impact and person in her life was her husband, actor-writer Gene Wilder. Whom both were married from 1984 until her death in 1989. How their love story was just so, so genuine.

*SPOILERS* Did you know in the scene when rehearsing for the 1982 film "Hanky Panky" where they met perhaps for the first time that Gene Wilder confessed to her that he had never, ever watched Saturday Night Live as she ran through the characters that made her so popular with the show. Guess he wasn't one of the millions of people that wasn't familiar with the show!!

Read the Book!

[arterberry-1 · 7 November 2004]

I actually didn't see the made for TV movie. But the book was absolutely wonderful and probably everything you'd want from the movie but didn't get. She's honest, funny and deeply in love with life. I thought I knew how the book was going to end. I was wrong. I guess we usually are, this was her message. It's also a quick read. If you're a fan, read the book, she'll become a friend. Her courage, intelligence, passion and commitment can live on in all of us. She is a hero and I am so grateful she expressed her experience and wrote this book. We need more people to stand up and tell their story, just as it is, for us to know we are just fine, as we are. Thanks Gilda!

Ruined by Ineptitude

[haydenhed · 1 May 2002]

The poignant story of Gilda Radner is, possibly due to her limited celebrity, not often explored outside the E! True Hollywood Story. Unfortunately, the one venue that decided to venture into her life choose to trample it instead of celebrate it.

Sure, she had problems with her weight and men, but there had to be a few good times for Gilda. We'll never know. ABC's (aptly titled) "It's Always Something" prefers instead to focus exclusively on the crowd-pleasing tabloid fodder. Throw in a few first year film student camera tricks and cuts, and one misplaced "Saccharin Song" clip from her Broadway show, apparently meant to balance between the poignant and the funny as a sort of ironic twist on her eventual illness, and "It's Always Something" deserves to rot in the Movie of the Week obscurity it will soon be enveloped in.