Review: Saturday Night

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Written by: Gil Kenan & Jason Reitman

Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien

Rating: [3.5/5]

Breaking the mold and providing something new and revolutionary typically serves as the intent of artists in their efforts to liven things up. However, that often does not vibe with the brass making the decisions because predictable inputs often create predictable results, which shareholders enjoy the most. While well-known now, it took quite the effort to get Saturday Night Live on the air and amongst all the comedy this feature serves as an ode to those who get things done despite the circumstances. 

With the countdown looming for the first episode of Saturday Night, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) has so much to juggle not only from cast members coming to blows with each other, a crew on the cusp of open revolt, and executives openly rooting against him. With all of this up in the air, he remains resolute that no matter what they will make it to air come hell or high water. 

Deriving enjoyment from Saturday Night comes in various levels depending on one’s general knowledge of the history of this program in addition to the cast members that went through it. There are plenty of individuals who love the program and have watched it from the very beginning when the likes of Chevy Chase (Chevy Chase), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), and John Belushi (Matt Wood) got their start in the industry. Then you have those like me who only casually watched SNL clips and have never actually watched a full episode. As someone who did not recognize half the people featured in this film, others may point and know them and appreciate their importance to the story. Ultimately, the success of this film hinges on the conceit that audience members on both sides of this fence can find enjoyment in watching it. 

Through its narrative structure, this film operates in a way where its runtime serves as the very countdown to the airing of the show meaning we see how the stress of making it to air happens real-time before our eyes. We go on this stressful ride with Lorne as everything indicates this program will go down in flames but he simply refuses to let that happen. If anything it displays how the ongoing belief that any film or program that comes together even somewhat competently is a miracle. With everything going on the hardest for Lorne and the most entertaining came in trying to manage the talent. 

With so many large egos and personalities coming together to do these sketches, it therefore makes sense that the original crew did not last that long. Of all things, the time with the talent displayed my running feeling that comedians, when at their worst, can be the most insufferable people. Consistently throughout this narrative we have these characters consistently say the harshest things to each other but embed it into a joke and therefore it absolves them from the true intent of said joke. We see this not only with the cast members and also the writers. It gives off this feeling that not enough of them have been punched in the face for running their mouth far too loosely. Having them all together in one space where they continue to act in this way further highlights that I could not hang in that scene for more than a couple of minutes before I would lose my mind and leave. This also serves as a credit to the filmmaking to make me feel that way and why it also made sense why some of the cast members nearly came to blows with one another. 

By casting young and upcoming stars to portray seasoned veterans, it became a fun exercise to see how they would mimic their person. As mentioned before, I do not know many of these individuals but seeing how Cory Michael Smith and Dylan O’Brien portray Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd respectively felt almost too well and they serve as the highlights. Others I recognized also just did not get much screen time such as Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun) and Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany) but that was always going to happen. 

Quite the task to take on and mostly working out well, Jason Reitman captures the stress and the excitement brought together in the build up of first airing Saturday Night. I felt a connection to Lorne as the guy trying to make it all happen and respect the obstacle in his way from all angles. While light on character the film did a good job in building this general feeling of anxiety and urgency that ultimately propelled it forward.