Movie Review: ‘Saturday Night’

Director Jason Reitman takes some dramatic license yet creates an entertaining account of the 90 minutes leading up to the premiere of 'Saturday Night Live'.

(L to R) Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Jane Curtain (Kim Matula), Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Alan Zweibel (Josh Brener) and Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures.

Opening in theaters everywhere on October 11th is the biographical comedy ‘Saturday Night’, which chronicles the 90-minutes leading up to the premiere of ‘Saturday Night Live’.

Directed by Jason Reitman (‘Juno’, ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’), the film stars Gabriel LaBelle (‘The Fabelmans’) as Lorne Michaels, Cooper Hoffman (‘Licorice Pizza’) as NBC executive Dick Ebersol, Rachel Sennott (‘Bottoms’) as writer Rosie Shuster, Cory Michael Smith (‘Gotham’) as Chevy Chase, Dylan O’Brien (‘American Assassin’) as Dan Aykroyd, Lamorne Morris (‘Jumanji: The Next Level’) as Garrett Morris, Ella Hunt (‘Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1’) as Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn (‘Mary & George’) as Laraine Newman, Kim Matula (‘Fighting with My Family’) as Jane Curtin and Matt Wood as John Belushi.

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin, and Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures.

‘Saturday Night’, director Jason Reitman’s loving tribute to the 50-year television institution that Lorne Michaels' created is fun, fast-paced and thoroughly entertaining. The film plays like a greatest-hits of all the behind-the-scenes stories and sketches from the first year of ‘SNL’, within the confines of the 90-minutes leading up to the premiere episode in 1975. While Reitman certainly took creative liberties with the facts, the film is exciting to watch and probably his best movie to date.

Script and Direction

Director Jason Reitman on the set of Columbia Pictures' 'Saturday Night.'

Unfolding in real-time, ‘Saturday Night’ tells the story of the 90-minutes leading up to the premiere of the first episode in 1975 and literally ends after the first sketch and Chevy Chase says, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night’.

The movie begins by introducing us to a frantic Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), who is dealing with a handful of problems including nervous NBC executives, a missing John Belushi (Matt Wood), over 3-hours of sketches to cut down into 90 minutes and the fact that he still doesn’t know what the show is going to be. Pressuring Michaels to cancel the live-broadcast and air a tape instead is NBC executives Dick Eborsol (Cooper Hoffman) and David Tebet (Willem Dafoe), who has ulterior motives for hiring Michaels in the first place.

We soon meet cast members including Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), who already thinks he is a superstar. We also meet Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), who as the oldest member of the cast and mostly a dramatic actor and playwright, has no idea why he is there. In addition to meeting the rest of the cast, we also see a young Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany) who was promised a spot on the show, and a confused Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun) arriving for his appearance. Finally, we meet writer and Michaels' wife, Rosie Schuster (Rachel Sennott), who is trying to calm the cast down and decide if she wants to be credited with her married name.

(L to R) Cinematographer Eric Steelberg and Director Jason Reitman on the set of Columbia Pictures' 'Saturday Night'.

Reitman clearly has a lot of love for ‘Saturday Night Live’ and the original cast, I would imagine partly because his father, the late director Ivan Reitman (‘Ghostbusters’) had worked with most of them in Toronto before they were cast on the show, which makes Jason the perfect person to tell this specific story. Rather than doing the usual biopic that follows the creation and casting of the series, and maybe even chronicle the entire 50-year history, Reitman wisely focused on the hour and a half before the first broadcast. The movie fits in all the legendary stories that fans have heard over the years, while also finding time for glimpses of most of the sketches that would end up featuring in that episode and later in the first season.

While Reitman takes some liberties with the facts, the film is none the less fascinating to watch. However, there was more time spent with certain characters like Garrett Morris and Billy Crystal than needed, and I thought it took away from exploring the main cast. In fact, except for Morris, most of the original cast members don’t have as much screen time as you would expect, especially Belushi, although I think they were trying to use the character sparingly like Spielberg did with the shark in ‘Jaws’. However, it still kind of works because we as an audience have so much nostalgia for the show and already basically know who Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and the rest are. But I wonder how well this movie would have worked if it was an original story and we had no history with these characters or this show.

Performances

Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures.

The actors playing the original ‘SNL’ cast are excellent, truly working as an ensemble as no one actor stands-out, but again, this is also one of the problems with the movie as we really are not given enough time with any of them to really get to know them. Lamorne Morris probably has the most screen time and brings vulnerability to the character of Garret Morris (no relation).

While not in the movie nearly enough, Cory Michael Smith is excellent as an arrogant Chevy Chase. Kim Matula was very intriguing as Jane Curtain, but again didn’t have enough to do and the same can be said for Dylan O’Brian as Aykroyd, Emily Fain as Newman, Ella Hunt as Radner and Matt Wood as Belushi.

The character we spend the most time with is of course Lorne Michaels, but we never really get the feeling that we know him. That’s not actor Gabriel LaBelle’s fault, and I would argue that he played the role perfectly. The problem is that the character of Lorne Michaels is aloof to begin with, and there is no way to truly understand his genius.

(Left) Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures. (Right) Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures.

But the love story (if you can call it that) between Michaels and Rosie Shuster helps to give the audience a little insight into his character and their relationship. In fact, Rachel Sennott lights up the screen as Shuster and gives one of the brightest performances in the film. It's also worth mentioning Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol and Willem Dafoe as David Tebet, respectively, as both actors give solid performances but, in the end, just act as the antagonists.

Part of the fun of the movie is watching the cameos, including ‘Succession’ actor Nicholas Braun who is unrecognizable as both Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson, who people forget was technically a member of the original cast. Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons also steals his one scene as legendary comedian Milton Berle who Chase catches successfully hitting on his girlfriend Jacqueline Carlin (Kaia Gerber). Other strong cameos include Paul Rust who is a dead ringer for Paul Schaffer, Taylor Gray as an amusing Al Franken, Jon Batiste as musical guest Billy Preston, and Matthew Rhys as an unpleasant George Carlin, who hosted the first episode.

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brian) in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures.

In the end, ‘Saturday Night’ is probably the best possible version of this movie that someone could make, and the best film of Jason Reitman’s career so far. I would think that the film will certainly be on the shortlist for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay at next year’s Oscars, but unfortunately, no one performance stands-out enough to be nominated. Whether you are a diehard fan of ‘Saturday Night Live’ or have never seen an episode (that’s hard to believe), you will enjoy this fun, funny and fast-paced film, which is a perfect tribute to the comedic television institution that is celebrating its 50th anniversary next year.

‘Saturday Night’ receives 8.5 out of 10 stars.

Saturday Night

"The revolution begins at 11:30."

R1 hr 49 minOct 11th, 2024

Showtimes & Tickets

Watch Saturday Night Online

What is the plot of ‘Saturday Night’?

The film is based on the true story of what happened in the 90 minutes prior to the October 11, 1975, debut of ‘Saturday Night Live’.

Who is in the cast of ‘Saturday Night?’

Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels
Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster
Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase
Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner
Dylan O'Brien as Dan Aykroyd
Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman
Matt Wood as John Belushi
Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris
Kim Matula as Jane Curtin
Finn Wolfhard as an NBC page
Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson
Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol
Kaia Gerber as Jacqueline Carlin
Andrew Barth Feldman as Neil Levy
Tommy Dewey as Michael O'Donoghue
Willem Dafoe as David Tebet
Matthew Rhys as George Carlin
J. K. Simmons as Milton Berle
Jon Batiste as Billy Preston
Taylor Gray as Al Franken
Mcabe Gregg as Tom Davis
Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal
Tracy Letts as Herb Sargent
Leander Suleiman as Anne Beatts
Paul Rust as Paul Shaffer

(L to R) Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Gabriel LaBelle as Lorne Michaels, Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, and Matt Wood as John Belushi in 'Saturday Night'. Photo: Sony Pictures.