Saturday Night (2024)

Smith’s Verdict: ****
Reviewed by Tanner Smith

A lot of people (myself included) have trash-talked “Saturday Night Live” many times–but, considering how many people find themselves nostalgic for each previous SNL decade run (plus its recent season-50 premiere is really popular), maybe we should just shut up and appreciate that it’s still going.

Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” is a dramatization about the taping of the first “SNL” (back when it was just called “Saturday Night,” hence the title of the movie) and all the anxiety and chaos that went into it when it seemed doomed to fail.

Taking place in real time, we follow the young pioneering producer/creator Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle, from “The Fabelmans”) in the hour-and-a-half leading up to the live recording of what would be the start of a game-changing sketch-comedy show that would feel like the best kind of Saturday night party on TV. The camera whips us all around to the sets, dressing rooms, and backstage hallways of Studio 8H, as Lorne tries his best to work a three-hour rehearsal in a 90-minute show, control his colorful cast of up-and-coming comedians, bump heads with producers, writers, and other creatives (like Jim Henson, who worries about the presentation of his Muppets), and just try to put on a good show.

It’s easy to compare this anxiety-induced backstage story to Birdman (hard to believe that film came out nearly a decade ago). But there’s one very important factor to consider in the comparison–“Saturday Night” actually captures the joy that goes into a passion project such as this. Yes, we see Lorne be stressed out, angry, and bitter at times, much like Riggan Thomson in “Birdman”–but those moments wouldn’t work as well if we didn’t feel Lorne’s passion for this project or see the immense pride and delight in his face when things go well. They help us see what’s on his mind, why he’s so eager to entertain and pull it off, and especially why we want to see “Saturday Night” succeed (which we know it will).

“Saturday Night” was directed by Jason Reitman, who makes very interesting choices with each film. (Thank You For Smoking and Juno are my favorites of his, and I also admire “Young Adult,” “Tully,” and “Ghostbusters: Afterlife.” Maybe I should revisit Men, Women & Children–I hated it when I first saw it; but, since I’m not a critic anymore, maybe I can see something more to it now.) Reitman co-wrote the script with Gil Kenan, and I can’t say how much I appreciate Reitman & Kenan’s partnership. Kenan was the director of the awesome and successful “Monster House” in 2006 and it’s like Hollywood just spat him back out after the failure of City of Ember (which I happen to really like, btw; my family and I were among the rare few who saw that in a theater). I’m glad that with the new “Ghostbusters” movies and now “Saturday Night,” Reitman is giving Kenan another career uprise.

Now…where do I even begin in talking about the large ensemble cast at work here? It’s largely LaBelle’s star vehicle, as the film is seen through Lorne’s experience of events, and he’s great here. But there are so many other actors who deserve credit for their excellent work in respective roles, so…I’m just list off the ones that impressed me the most:

Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd. Cory Michael Smith (Gotham) as Chevy Chase. J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle. Matt Wood as John Belushi. Lamorne Morris as Garret Morris. Rachel Sennott (impressing me more with each film) as writer Rosie Shuster. Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal (I swear, it’s like they went back in time and brought back the actual young Billy Crystal for this part). Cooper Hoffman as network suit Dick Ebersol. Matthew Rhys as George Carlin. Andrew Barth Feldman (“No Hard Feelings”) as Lorne’s cousin and assistant. Tommy Dewey as Michael O’Donaghue. And on and on and on, and I haven’t even mentioned the great Willem Dafoe as network suit David Tebet yet!!

My personal favorite was Nicholas Braun, who has a dual role as the eccentric Jim Henson and (of course) even more eccentric Andy Kaufman. I have seen this actor in many films in nearly two decades, from “Sky High” to “Red State” to The Perks of Being a Wallflower to The Stanford Prison Experiment to last year’s “Cat Person” (just to name a few–and of course, he’s great in “Succession”), and I applaud wholeheartedly his great efforts in both roles here.

I believe “Saturday Night” will stand the test of time not as a cynical by-the-numbers biopic but as a wickedly entertaining, very funny, and even sentimental (without being cloying) portrait of the craziness that goes into game-changing entertainment.

And I’m eager to see it again very soon.