My Favorite Year

Directed by Richard Benjamin and set in 1954, My Favorite Year follows young comedy writer Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker) as he’s tasked with ensuring a fading, alcoholic star (Peter O’Toole’s Alan Swann) stays sober enough to perform in a Your Show of Shows-like live broadcast. Filmmaker Benjamin delivers a lackadaisically-paced yet generally entertaining comedy that benefits substantially from the leads’ superb work, with both Linn-Baker and O’Toole stepping into the shoes of their respective characters with a gusto that proves awfully difficult to resist. (O’Toole certainly doesn’t hold anything back and regularly goes for broke as the perpetually drunk Swann.) There’s little doubt, as well, that Benjamin does a superb job of cultivating a fairly irresistible 1950s atmosphere, with the picture certainly working quite well as a behind-the-scenes look at the era’s frantic television industry. And although the picture’s deliberate atmosphere prevents it from becoming wholeheartedly captivating, My Favorite Year, which closes with an entertainingly over-the-top finale, ultimately comes off as a pleasant, compulsively watchable little comedy that boasts note-perfect work from its stars.

*** out of ****