REVIEW: Saturday Night Showcases The Tempestuous Moments That Would Lead To The Launch Of NBC History
With Saturday Night Live, NBC’s hit sketch comedy, celebrating fifty years of entertaining the masses live on Saturday nights, director Jason Reitman is turning back the clock to that very first show in his new film, Saturday Night. The little over ninety-minute film begins on October 11, 1975, ninety minutes before this new live sketch is set to air, and the feeling inside the halls and sets of 30 Rock can only be described as chaos. There are sketches still being planned, a three hour show that needs to trim of a lot of fat, fights between the cast, crew members quitting left and right, and a llama wandering the back halls, but the clock keeps ticking to showtime. At the center of it all is the show’s creator and producer, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), who can’t seem to describe what his new show is all about, but is doing his very best to make sure that when 11:30pm strikes, it is his show that is airing, and not a Johnny Carson rerun.
Reitman is no stranger to the world of Saturday Night Live. His father, Ivan, has directed many of the cast who has graced the stage, as has Jason over the years, but this depiction of those tense ninety-minutes ahead of the first live broadcast, is different for Reitman. His job is to bring to life this fictious idea of what was going on in those hallowed halls before the start of what would become one of NBC’s longest running series. And boy, does he bring it to life. Reitman brings the unpredictability of any production’s opening night to the forefront, and showcases the nervous energy running through the set and the chaos that looms as the clock continues to countdown. There is never a moment to take a breath or take a moment to truly delve into any one character that graces the screen because with ninety-mintues to showtime, there wouldn’t be time in any world for unnecessary chitchat. And that is what Reitman does so well in this film, is not focus on the chitchat, but instead focus on the moments.
It is also hard to imagine any person playing any one of the beloved members of the cast of that first season of Saturday Night, but casting director, John Papsidera, and Reitman nailed it. LaBelle’s performance as Michaels is a calm amongst the incoming storm. He manages to showcase a man whose life is hanging onto the success of a show, but also a man in charge of keeping composure to ensure that everything goes off without a hitch. Cory Michael Smith plays the perfect young Chevy Chase and Matt Wood is tremendous as John Belushi. Nicholas Braun plays double duty in dual roles as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson. Dylan O’Brien is a standout as Dan Aykroyd and Lamorne Morris is pitch perfect as Garrett Morris. Rachel Sennott effortlessly plays Rosie Shuster while Willem Dafoe brings his A+ talents to David Tebet.
Saturday Night might not appease avid fans of the series or even some critics. However, in the short time viewers have with this cast and crew, they are given an amazing opportunity to see the rollercoaster that would help cultivate and launch one of the greatest sketch series to ever grace the television universe.
Grade: B+