To start this off this review, I wish I could give this movie a zero. This is not going to be a slam of Mr. Dustin Diamond, simply a review of what Lifetime put on the screen last night.
There are many things that I find wrong with this movie, I just don't know where to start. I really wanted to enjoy this one because like all who watched this movie, they grew up watching Saved By the Bell. And who doesn't like to know what goes on behind closed doors? But, my interest dimmed after finding out two major components: It's based on Dustin's falsified memoir and two it has "Unauthorized" in the title. I get it, I didn't have to watch it and there were a million things I could have been doing. But, I didn't.
Firstly, the cast was put together poorly. The only ones that I thought matched their counterparts were: Ken Tremblett (played Dennis Haskins), Tiera Skovbye (Elizabeth Berkley, due to her scene when she was on the caffeine pills.), and Taylor Russell (Lark Voorhies). The rest I could care less about, especially Sam Kindseth, I didn't feel that Screech charm, nor did I expect it, I just wanted a glimpse. I felt more anger towards Dustin Diamond as a whole after the movie. I don't know if he was that goofy on set or just pushed himself out of the group, even to this day he doesn't associate himself with them. With hearing about positive things from the other cast members. I am hoping they didn't treat him with disrespect or being a complete bully. I understand that no one wants to be the outcast, especially how the others were adored by millions. But, with that said, just like Jaleel White with his Steve Urkel character he embraced the role. He rode it out and capitalized on his fame, where Dustin didn't. Lifetime took a movie that was about an hour into a 2 hour slotted TV film, the editing was very poorly done. It just felt like it was going from one thought to another without changing the year. Plus what annoyed me were the conversations that Dustin was not in. For example, when Tiffany and Mark were in France, how does anyone know what happened? I get that there were multiple interviews with people, but it was an unnecessary scene. Also with the reenactments with the scenes on the show, were not accurate and most didn't even occur. It didn't help that they tried to cover five years that quickly. I mean for me personally, I wanted to hear about the College Years and the New Class more and how his life altered from those two shows. I know that his narration touched briefly on the College Years, but it felt like road kill you pass by. There was a lot of content that Dustin and Lifetime overlooked. I can tell that this movie was made in a few months, due to the choppy cuts and the actors' interactions with each other. It didn't feel real; it felt like the Days of Our Lives. I would have wanted flashbacks and real memorabilia from the show. I felt like I wasn't watching behind the scenes of Saved by the Bell; Lifetime and Dustin just wanted to tell the viewers a crappy bedtime story.
If you enjoyed it, that's great and I hope you don't take my opinion into account. I wish that this is comprehendible for everyone and I would love to hear what everyone has to say. Thank you!
