The new Showtime documentary Belushi doesn't necessarily shed too much new light on the late SNL and Animal House star's brief but incredibly popular career. If you're familiar with his story, the movie hits many of the major landmarks -- his breakout stardom on Saturday Night Live, his uneven film career and descent into deadly drug addiction -- but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable or profoundly sad.
The film employs a refreshing technique, it uses only audio (recorded by author Tanner Colby for a biography of Belushi published years ago). And it's compelling to hear the voice of say the late Harold Ramis rather than the traditional talking head. The anecdotes feel more candid and more emotional.
And the biggest takeaway from Belushi is that the combustible comedian could be a very introspective softie. There are numerous excerpts from unguarded love letters to his with Judith (voiced beautifully by Bill Hader) which show him alternately riding the highs of fame, crying for help and expressing a deep desire for the kind of love and affection his parents apparently deprived him of.
The film doesn't treat Belushi as a blameless innocent, and the movie doesn't shy away from his penchant for misogyny and self pity -- but it also does a terrific job of highlighting his intelligence, his charm and his remarkable comedic talent.
The footage will be familiar to any Belushi fan, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable to revisit. There are many comics who have captured elements of his signature style in his wake -- Chris Farley and even his brother Jim Belushi have probably borrowed from him the most -- but he really did have a singular presence that can't be replicated.
Like so many people I became aware of Belushi through his two hit movies National Lampoon's Animal House and The Blues Brothers, and later his incredible run during the first few seasons of SNL (where he was initially overshadowed by Chevy Chase). But the great tragedy of his life -- after of course his untimely death -- was that he never got to fully explore the depths of his talent.
He was being pigeonholed as a certain type of comic who starts in a certain type of movie (one anecdote towards the end of the film is that a studio wanted him to appear in a diaper in an upcoming comedy) and therefore was something of a victim of his own success.
Only in 1981's little seen Continental Divide did he ever get to play anything close to resembling a real person and it's clear he desperately wanted to be taken seriously as an actor. Most ex-SNL actors struggle to make this transition, with Bill Murray probably being the biggest exception to the rule and he of course has had over 40 years now of big screen acting roles to craft a nuanced popular persona.
For better or worse, Belushi is frozen in time -- at just 33 years old (although his hard living made him look much older) -- as a wunderkind comedy dynamo who made America laugh and cry in such a short span of time (roughly 1975 to 1982).
I'm not quite sure why this is the moment filmmakers decided to revisit this material. There are no new revelations here or a totally new take on his career (like Listen to Me Marlon, which suggested that the late method actor was far more respectful of his profession than he liked to let on). It is however a great introduction for people unfamiliar with his talent and a sad reminder of what we lost for those of us who grew up idolizing him.
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