The following review was originally part of our coverage of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.
Saturday Night, the latest film from directorJason Reitman, begins with quite possibly the most famous quote ever made bySaturday Night LivecreatorLorne Michaels: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.” It’s this mantra that has ledSNLthrough fifty years of episodes, and considering an entire show is put together in less than a week,it’s remarkable any episode ever made it to air.Sometimes, the show is a showcase for some of the best and brightest in the comedy world, filled with jokes and political commentary that become iconic and influential; other times, it’s just what could be scrambled together in a week (to those “Saturday Night Liveisn’t relevant/funny anymore” commenters, sorry, the show hasalwaysbeen this level of a mixed bag. Yes, even when you grew up with it).
InSaturday Night, Reitman, who also co-wrote with hisGhostbusterscollaborator,Gil Kenan, does his best to not make this an ensemble of young actors doing impressions of comedy greats, nor is he trying to create an entirely historically accurate recreation of whatactuallyhappened in the 90 minutes leading up to the firstSNLepisode. Instead,Reitman is more interested in capturing the spirit of getting ready for a show as frantic asSNL, a ticking time bomb thatwillgo off at 11:30 P.M., which can seem more like herding cats than putting on a comedy show, and how it’s a minor miracle that this show has been able to do this for nearly half a century.
What Is ‘Saturday Night’ About?
Gabriel LaBelle(The Fabelmans) stars as the young Lorne Michaels, who is trying to prove himself to NBC that his idea of a live comedy show with musical guests, movies, Muppets, and everything but the kitchen sink is a good idea. His producer,Dick Ebersol(Cooper Hoffman), is trying to make things as smooth as possible, while also trying to do what’s best for the studio. But with 90 minutes to air, it seems as though there’s no chance thatSaturday Nightwill hit the air to prove itself. Network executives are breathing down Michaels’ throat,John Belushi(Matt Wood) still hasn’t signed his contract, there’s no one to do the lighting, bricks are still being laid, and Michaels hasn’t even decided how to pare down the show to an hour-and-a-half. With so much still up in the air and nothing seemingly going right,it looks as though Michaels’ brainchild might not manage to make it to air, regardless of whether it’s 11:30 or not.
‘Saturday Night’ Is More Than Just a String of Impressions
Right out the gate, as the opening credits roll,Saturday Nightintroduces the audience to who is playing who in this recreation.Instead of stopping the film dead in its tracks whenever we need to be introduced to an actor playing a comedian we know, this intro handles that simply and effectively.The casting of the show’s original crew is impeccable, but is also never attempting to be a direct take of the show’s first cast. For example,Dylan O’BrienasDan Aykroydseems like such an odd choice, but O’Brien matches the mannerisms as much as he needs to, without going into an impression. Wood,Lamorne Morris(Garrett Morris), andCory Michael Smith(Chevy Chase) are all matching the spirit of these actors, but never diving too deep into trying to recreate them directly.Saturday Nightalso makes the show’s three female cast members,Gilda Radner(Ella Hunt),Jane Curtin(Kim Matula), andLaraine Newman(Emily Fairn) feel like a unified trio, trying to make their name in a show that’s very clearly a boy’s club. Balancing out Michaels’ manic energy isRosie Shuster(Rachel Sennott), Michaels’ wife from whom he’s separated, which shows that despite Michaels getting the credit, Shuster was an important yin to his yang, without which the show probably would’ve never made it to air.
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“It doesn’t matter that we’re ready, it matters that it’s 11:30.”
Saturday Nightis crammed with an absurd ensemble, fromTommy Dewey’sMichael O’Donogue, whose dark, brash sense of humor is both a gift and a curse,Matthew Rhysas the show’s first host,George Carlin,Nicholas Braunpulling double duty asJim HensonandAndy Kaufman,J.K. Simmonsas friggin’Milton Berle, andNo Hard Feelings’Andrew Barth Feldmanas the only person who might be in over their head more than Michaels. Each character here only gets a few minutes of screen time, but each is following their own specific storyline along the fringes of Michaels’ story. While it would be great to potentially spend more time with each of these great characters,Saturday Night, much likeSNL, is about the ensemble rather than the individual, and Reitman plays to that, making the amount of characters who Michaels’ needs to deal with feel overwhelming and impossible to manage.
As the center of this recreation is LaBelle, who already proved he could be a youngSteven SpielberginThe Fabelmans, and now equally excels as a young Lorne Michaels. For 90 minutes, we watch LaBelle go from a cautiously optimistic fan of the next big things in comedy, to an exhausted shell of a man just trying to make it to showtime. By the end of the film, he’s covered in flop sweat and fake blood, and we feel his exhaustion simply by looking at his bloodshot eyes and defeated attitude. LaBelle is merely the ringleader, but the young actor does an excellent job of presenting this iconic comedy figure, flaws and all.
‘Saturday Night’ Is More a Celebration Than a Factual Recreation - And That’s a Good Thing
Even though Reitman and Kenan attempt to base each of these character’s stories in fact and what they were doing on the night of this first episode, it also, rightfully,never feels like it’s attempting to be a direct recreation of everything that happened leading up to this premiere.This is a clear exaggeration of whatwaslikely one of the most intense shows of Michaels’ career, and it’s easy to see how all of these events probably happened in the build-up to this show, just probably not in the 90 minutes beforehand. There are moments that are clearly added to make more of a strong narrative structure, like Michaels having to explain what the hell is show is to network executiveDavid Tebet(Willem Dafoe) right before air, or having Michaels undergo an epiphany as he watches Belushi ice skate in a bee costume outside Rockefeller Center. These moments don’t quite work because they do feel false in the larger scheme of this bonkers production, a necessary evil in order to give this story a tighter structure than it would have without.
Saturday Nightis also the best film from Reitmansince his work withDiablo Codyin 2018’sTullyand 2011’sYoung Adult. Reitman knows how to build the tension of this situation, a never-ending string of problems that need to be solved and quickly. Also perfectly adding to this sense isJon Batiste’s score, which is centered around a steady drum beat that builds and smashes to pull at your nerves in effective ways, à laBirdman. Reitman has spoken at length about his love ofSaturday Night Live, and even working as a writer on the show for a week, andyou can feel that love emanating from his camera, as he maneuvers around this recreation of Studio 8H, almost as though he’s a documentarian there to capture this groundbreaking episode of television.He’s swinging the camera around, making long takes, rapidly cutting between moments, and generally having a blast behind the camera in a way that we haven’t seen from him since probablyJuno.
However, Reitman and Kenan’s script mostly asks its audience to have as much awareness aboutSaturday Night Liveand its cast as they do, and that could likely be a bit overwhelming for the uninitiated.Saturday Nightasks its audience to know details like how the cast used to advertise Polaroid camera during the show, Belushi’s history with dressing up as a bee on the show, and the appearance ofAlan Zweibel(Josh Brener) will feel like an “oh shit!” moment to fans, and mean absolutely nothing to others. Reitman and Kenan are clearly super fans ofSNL, andits history, and because of that, the script often doesn’t take into account that its audience probably won’t know as much about this show as they do.
But beyond that,Saturday Nightis an exciting, enthralling, and often hilarious celebration ofSaturday Night Livewith a tremendous cast that shows the unbelievable amount of work that goes into putting this show on.There is a clear love for the legacy and history ofSNLand its importance in comedy and television, and Reitman captures that wonderfully here. By looking back at this iconic episode, Reitman has made one of his best films in years.
Saturday Night
Saturday Night is a loving celebration of SNL that captures the spirit of trying to put on a live comedy show every week.
Saturday Nightis now in theaters. Click below for showtimes.
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