In Saving Silverman, two dimwitted friends try to save their third friend from a girlfriend from Hell. These types of movies are usually hit-or-miss, and this one is closer to the miss. With a rapid-fire delivery approach to jokes and physical comedy, the materially funny material runs thin, which, for Steve Zahn and Jack Black is a change. Zahn and Black are usually very funny but here become quickly annoying. The three friends since grade school are Wayne (Zahn, Chain of Fools, Hamlet), J.D. (Black, High Fidelity, Jesus' Son) and Darren Silverman (Jason Biggs, Loser, Boys and Girls). The three form a triumvirate of losers and play in Diamonds in the Rough, a Neil Diamond cover band. Diamond is their idol.
When Judith (Amanda Peet, Whipped, Two Ninas) shows up, things change drastically. She is a domineering psychologist who wishes for nothing else but to have total control over Darren. She does not want him around Wayne and J.D. and wants Darren to have new friends, new clothes, and a new life. To regain their friend, Wayne and J.D. plot to kidnap Amanda and set Darren up with Sandy (Amanda Detmer, Final Destination, Boys and Girls), his high school true love. They have to hurry, since Sandy is preparing to become a nun. Good sport Neil Diamond even shows up to lend a hand.
The problems start with the relentless stupid antics of Wayne and J.D. Director Dennis Dugan and writers Hank Nelken and Greg DePaul (Killer Bud). They take the easy way out and have them act like the idiots they are, generating only moderate laughs. The joke is supposed to be that Judith is so much smarter than Wayne and J.D. that they are in fact the ones in trouble. She has a countermove for everything they think of, and is constantly outsmarting them. The movie relies too much on Peet's cleavage, tired jokes, and familiar physical comedy to set it apart. The audience ends up rooting for Judith instead of Wayne and J.D. The other characters just are not interesting. How stupid is Darren if he cannot see what Judith is trying to do and his friends can? The Sandy character is the most bland, and probably borders on the offensive. Many of the jokes, which fall toward the crude site, fall flat There are some that are mildly amusing, but these are few and far between.