Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno), Saturday Night fictionalizes what happened behind the scenes during the 1975 series premiere of NBC’s long-running comedy series Saturday Night Live. It’s a well-made tribute that comes from the heart, but never really creates its own identity.
Presented as a real time, ticking clock thriller, the film depicts the 90 or so minutes leading up to the famous moment when Chevy Chase bellowed the very first “Live from New York! It’s Saturday night!” With the camera constantly cruising the claustrophobic halls of Studio 8H, all the players who would become household names by 1976 are introduced. Lorne Michaels (played by The Fabelmans’ Gabriel LaBelle) is frantically trying to keep things together as he tries to revolutionize late night TV, while the NBC executives (Cooper Hoffman and Willem Dafoe) still aren’t convinced the show will work. The Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players — Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), and Jane Curtain (Kim Matula) — rehearse, goof around, and butt heads as they prepare to make TV history. Head writer Michael O’Donaghue (Tommy Dewey), and producer Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), who was also Michaels’ estranged wife at the time, both contribute to and attempt to shape the chaos around them. Musical director Paul Shaffer (Paul Rust), and host George Carlin(Matthew Rhys) both receive one dimensional screen time. Old guard comic Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons) makes fun of it all, and Succession’s Nicholas Braun pulls double-duty as both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman.
Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan (who collaborated on the recent Ghostbusters films) did meticulous research, interviewing everyone who was in the building on the day of the show’s premiere. As the disc’s special features reveal, some of those stories conflicted, and others took place on different days but were folded into the movie anyway, making for a jam-packed 109 minutes. Not all of it works, but there is some undeniably great craftsmanship at hand, from the luminous 16mm cinematography to the overwhelmingly impressive two-story set replicating SNL‘s famous Studio 8H — built in Atlanta for the film. Another highlight is the free-wheeling, jazzy score that was recorded live on the set by Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Jon Batiste, who also doubles as Billy Preston, the very first SNL musical guest ever. Likewise, the cast was carefully selected in order to inhabit famous faces of 1975, and even the extras were auditioned in order to realistically play crew members. The performances range from effective mimicry to genuinely funny, but too much screen time is given to re-enacting famous bits (albeit in rehearsal mode), like Chase’s Weekend Update segment, Kaufman’s lip sync rendition of the Mighty Mouse theme song, and Morris’ raucous “Get Me a Shotgun” song. The originals were all really funny on SNL in 1975, but the cover versions fall flat in the context of the film. Batiste doesn’t look much like Preston, but he looks like he’s having fun. Which pretty much goes for the whole movie. Ultimately, as entertaining as some moments are, Saturday Night’s main issue is that it’s a fairly conventional, even predictable look at what was a very unconventional and unpredictable time.
The special features include an audio commentary, and two worthwhile featurettes that go behind the scenes, explaining the film’s genesis, the casting process, the incredible production design, complicated choreography, and more. There’s also some fun Super 8 footage of the cast on set, and a handful of too-brief promotional clips called Creating Comedy Icons. Strangely, there’s a separate doc about Batiste’s score, but it’s just over a minute long. What’s the point of that?
The commentary is the disc’s highlight. Reitman takes us through all aspects of the film’s origins and production process, and is joined by cinematographer Eric Steelberg, production designer Jess Gonchor, and costumer designer Danny Glicker. With Reitman acting as a de facto moderator, each contributor speaks about their particular involvement when the film presents opportunities, instead of just all talking at once. The track is conversational, insightful, well paced and well organized.
Lastly, I would recommend this film to die hard fans of the beloved SNL show. New onlookers who are not familiar (and not too many would fall in this category) with SNL would probably still enjoy the film (as I personally did) because of its hilarity. Picture and sound are great as they should be since this is a new release.
Picture ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Sound ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Extras ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Out of 5 stars