For years I watched this movie on a personal videotape with all the dross edited out---most of which contains Don Novello (aka Father Sarducci) filling up time while Gilda Radner changes costumes backstage. Recently seeing the film "uncut", I cannot begin to say how Novello drags this down. He is the worst kind of unfunny comedian, with smug, pothead observations about life stemming from the obviousness of the human condition and dated bits of politics which are no longer topical. Radner, on the other hand, is amazing in her sets: rarely frantic or desperate for laughs, she plows right through if a joke happens to bomb. If only Hollywood could've tapped into this bottle of unabashed energy and self-delight, we might've seen Gilda in some hot comedies. Her takes on Emily Litella and Roseanne Roseannadanna are outrageously funny, her timing so sweet when she sings "The Way We Were" as Lisa Loopner, her wit sharp but always tempered with love. She clearly was one-of-a-kind, proving that Hollywood does make mistakes--one of them being its inability to turn this crowd-pleasing woman into a star. **1/2 from ****
Review of Gilda Live
