Jack Black's Worst Movie (According to Ebert) Is Now on Prime
Before School of Rock and Kung Fu Panda made Jack Black a household name, he was just another comic actor clawing his way through bad scripts and forgettable side roles.
And in 2001, right after his big breakthrough in High Fidelity, he picked what might be the worst possible follow-up: a film Roger Ebert absolutely hated.
Saving Silverman, now streaming on Prime Video, was released in November 2001 and directed by Dennis Dugan — best known as Adam Sandler's go-to filmmaker for stuff like Happy Gilmore and Big Daddy. This time, he paired Jason Biggs, Jack Black, and Steve Zahn in a story about two idiots who kidnap their best friend's fiancée to stop him from marrying the wrong woman.
The movie somehow made back its budget, but only just:
- Budget: $22 million
- Box office: $26.1 million
That slim profit didn't save it from the critics. Roger Ebert shredded the film in his review, calling it "so bad in so many different ways."
And he didn't stop there. He went on to say:
"It's the kind of movie that gives even its defenders fits of desperation."
He even took a shot at a fellow critic who dared to praise it, writing:
"Here's a critical rule of thumb: You know you're in trouble when you're reduced to praising a movie for its absence of fart jokes."
That's how low the bar was — and in Ebert's view, Saving Silverman still tripped over it.
The film has been largely forgotten, buried under Jack Black's later (and much better) work. But now that it's resurfaced on Prime, there's a fresh opportunity to relive the disaster — or to marvel at how Black survived it and came out the other side with an actual career.
If nothing else, Saving Silverman serves as a useful case study: when the next big thing makes their first big mistake, just hope Roger Ebert isn't watching.