SATURDAY NIGHT Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Jason Reitman
Stars: Gabriel La Belle, Cory Michael Smith, Matt Wood, Dylan O’Brien, Willem Dafoe, J K Simmons, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Ellen Boscov, Tommy Dewey, Catherine Curtin, Andrew Barth Feldman, Nicholas Podany, Robert Wuhl, Jon Batiste, Brian Welch, Paul Rust, Matthew Rhys, Brad Garrett, Josh Brener.
Saturday Night Live is an institution on American television. In its heyday, the show served up a cutting-edge mix of satire, comic sketches and music that changed television forever. The brainchild of a young producer named Lorne Michaels, the show also introduced audiences to a number of young, then largely unknown comics who went on to become household names – comics such as Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Billy Crystal, Gilda Radner, Jane Curtin, Andy Kaufman, George Carlin. The first episode aired at 11.30pm on October 11, 1975. As the iconic show approaches its fiftieth anniversary, Jason Reitman’s love letter to the show seems quite timely.
Saturday Night offers a largely fictional fly-on-the-wall look behind the scenes of the show’s launch. Saturday Night has been written by Reitman (who briefly wrote for the show back in 2008) and regular collaborator Gil Kenan (Ghostbusters: Afterlife, etc) who have obviously done their research. The script is based on interviews conducted with many of the personnel involved in the early shows. The film takes us behind the scenes to look at the chaos, kinetic energy and the tension in the hectic 90 minutes leading up to the show going to air for the first time.
Many of the performers are tense and insecure, unsure of what is being demanded of them. A cranky and angry John Belushi (Matt Wood) storms off minutes before the show is due to go to air after a lighting rig falls and sets fire to the set. Belushi is also refusing to sign his contract despite pressure from Michaels. Scripts are still being refined and head writer Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) clashes with the network’s humourless chief censor Joan Carbunkle (Catherine Curtin), who disapproves of some of the off-colour and politically incorrect humour. Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun, from Succession, etc) complains that the writers and crew are mistreating his Muppets. Cooper Hoffman plays Michaels’ cynical boss Dick Ebersol, a bundle of nervous energy as launch time approaches.
Trying to control the chaos around him is young producer Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel La Belle, from Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans), who is still unsure of what the show is meant to be. Ther are numerous obstacles he has to overcome to ensure a smooth start. And all of this is being observed by the powerful network executive Dave Tebet (Willem Dafoe) who has the power to pull the plug on it all. The NBC head honchos seem to want the show to fail before it even airs so they can run repeats of Johnny Carson, which is much more lucrative.
Reitman has cast many lookalikes to play some of these famous names, and the ensemble works in capturing their personalities and energy. Cory Michael Smith (from tv series Gotham, etc) is perfectly cast as an egotistical Chevy Chase while Dylan O’Brien (from The Maze Runner trilogy, etc) good as Aykroyd. Oscar winner J K Simmons (Whiplash, etc) brings a smug quality to his performance as egotistical tv legend Milton Berle who reminds everyone around him of his star status. Dafoe imbues Tebet with a slight hint of menace. La Belle brings a nervous energy to his performance as Michaels desperately tries to appease the comics as well as the studio executives while ensuring a smooth start to the show. Braun does double duty here as he also appears as Kaufman, stepping into the role after Benny Safdie was forced to drop out due to a scheduling conflict.
Jess Gonchor’s production design recreates the NBC sets and does a fine job of recreating the look and feel of the 70s and suffuses the material with a strong sense of nostalgia. Jon Batiste (Soul, etc) provides the superb jazz influenced score, and he also plays the SNL musical director Billy Preston.
Like SNL itself, Reitman’s film is messy, chaotic, energetic, with a scrappy charm, and there are numerous references to some of the more famous SNL sketches throughout the film. Regular cinematographer Eric Steelberg’s busy camera prowls around the set, in Altmanesque fashion, with elaborate tracking shots capturing the crew constructing the sets as the actors quickly rehearse their lines. He also shot on grainy 16mm, which captures the aesthetic of the era. The film seemingly unfolds in real time, which adds to the sense of urgency. The overlapping dialogue comes thick and fast and some of the one-liners will fly past.
Saturday Night is a fitting homage to the live comedy show that changed television forever. It’s obvious that Reitman loves SNL and he wants to share that love with the film’s audience. For the most part he succeeds.
★★★
