Movie · 1982 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 32m · PG · English
Curator score: 5.3/10 (18.3K ratings)
The year the dreams came true.
Overview
Fledgling comic Benjy Stone can't believe his luck when his childhood hero, the swashbuckling matinee idol Alan Swann, gets booked to appear on the variety show he writes for. But when Swann arrives, he fails to live up to his silver screen image. Instead, he's a drunken womanizer who suffers from stage fright. Benjy is assigned to look after him before the show, and it's all he can do to keep his former idol from going completely off the rails.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.3/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.53/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 97%
Metacritic: 62
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Richard Benjamin
Production
Brooksfilms, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Cast
Peter O'Toole, Mark Linn-Baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Lainie Kazan, Anne DeSalvo, Basil Hoffman, Lou Jacobi, Adolph Green, Tony DiBenedetto, George Wyner, Selma Diamond, Cameron Mitchell, Jenny Neumann, Corinne Bohrer, George Marshall Ruge, Amanda Horan Kennedy, John Welsh, Richard Brestoff
Curator Review
Verdict
A warm, witty showbiz comedy with a surprisingly touching core. Peter O’Toole’s performance gives it real spark, and the backstage TV setting adds a nostalgic, lightly satirical charm.
Best for
fans of classic Hollywood nostalgia
viewers who like character-driven comedies with heart
people who enjoy backstage entertainment stories
audiences looking for a funny, affectionate star vehicle
Skip if
you want a fast-paced modern comedy
you dislike nostalgia-heavy period pieces
you prefer broad farce over sentimental humor
you need high-stakes plotting
Overview
My Favorite Year is one of those easy-to-love backstage comedies that feels both breezy and carefully made. It uses the live-TV variety-show world as a playground for jokes, but the real pleasure is watching the film balance vanity, insecurity, and old-fashioned showbiz romance without losing its light touch.
Worth noting
Peter O’Toole is the engine here: flamboyant, self-destructive, and somehow still magnetic. The movie knows exactly how to let him be ridiculous while preserving the sadness underneath, and that mix gives the comedy more lift than a simple nostalgia piece usually has.
Bottom line
Mark Linn-Baker makes an excellent straight man, and the supporting ensemble helps the film feel lived-in rather than merely cute. It’s slight in the best way: a polished, affectionate comedy that lands because it understands both the glamour and the panic behind performance.
Top Letterboxd reviews
shahbakht (4★) · 85 likes
There are some movies that reinforce my love for the medium. As soon as I lay my eyes upon them, I know that I am going to love them. Some names come to mind like The Apartment, Goodfellas and of course The Godfather and this, for me, fell right into that group.
Without a doubt one of the funniest movies I have seen and a sheer delight from start to end. Just a positive, light, fun and well made movie. Peter O'Toole is superb and getting an Oscar nomination for a comedic role is a rarity and he makes it look effortless.
David Sims (3★) · 82 likes
Mark Linn-Baker is in this a criminal amount
madmonsterparty (4.5★) · 71 likes
This is one of those movies that, due to bad timing, I end up usually just end up logging instead of going ahead and talking about with a review.
Well, I'm going to go ahead and right that wrong now and talk about this one. It's charming, fun, sweet and nostalgic. Plus, you get Peter O'Toole thrown in there too and he brings so much charm and likability to this movie he could probably carry it all by himself.
But… more
theironcupcake (4.5★) · 65 likes
"Do you think there are funny people and not-funny people?""Yes. Definitely. On the funny side there are the Marx Brothers, except Zeppo; the Ritz Brothers, no exceptions; both Laurel and Hardy; and Woody Woodpecker. On the unfunny side, there's anybody who has ever played the accordion professionally."
For Jewish American Heritage Month and AAPI Heritage Month simultaneously: my favorite Richard Benjamin-directed film - a particular treat since today is his birthday - celebrating Brooklyn Jewishness (as is my own… more
David W (3★) · 61 likes
A film about TV hampered by its too-frequent TV sensibilities but saved, in the end, by the genuine star power of Peter O’Toole. The story is simple and ready-made for nostalgia-wallowing. We’re introduced to a young, up-and-coming talent, Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker), who works in the writer’s room of a “Your Show of Shows” style variety hour. It’s 1954 and the week when a formerly great, increasingly washed-up star of earlier cinema, Alan Swann (O’Toole), is set to host the… more A film about TV hampered by its too-frequent TV sensibilities but saved, in the end, by the genuine star power of Peter O’Toole. The story is simple and ready-made for nostalgia-wallowing. We’re introduced to a young, up-and-coming talent, Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker), who works in the writer’s room of a “Your Show of Shows” style variety hour. It’s 1954 and the week when a formerly great, increasingly washed-up star of earlier cinema, Alan Swann (O’Toole), is set to host the… more