Jason Reitman’s next installment in a varied filmography spanning from the Academy Award-winning Juno to the blockbuster sequel Ghostbusters: Afterlife comes in the form of Saturday Night, a docu-drama comedy covering the 90 minutes before the first episode of Saturday Night Live went on air. With an all-star ensemble cast, a great score and grainy cinematography that perfectly emulates the 1970s, Saturday Night is fun romp that falls just short of greatness.
Saturday Night is set in real-time as Lorne Michaels, played by Gabriel LaBelle, tries to put together the pieces of a show the network is sure will fail. We follow Michaels as sets collapse, crew members quit and studio executives try to shut the whole thing down. While this seems like an expert setup to a chaotic comedy, Saturday Night fails to convince the viewer that things are really as haphazard as they seem. The film constantly tells us that the atmosphere is chaotic, but doesn’t do anything to make the audience feel the tension. Still, the film is never boring, and there are numerous standout moments throughout its runtime.
By far, the best part of Saturday Night is the performances. The standouts for me were Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd and Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris. I also enjoyed brief appearances from Willem Dafoe as David Tebet and J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle. The film hinges on Gabriel LaBelle, whom I loved in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans a few years back. Here, however, I felt like he was constantly overshadowed by the outstanding cast surrounding him — much like Michaels himself, who, throughout the film’s runtime, comes to terms with his role as a producer and writer, rather than a comedian. The film’s choice to follow Michaels instead of letting the ensemble shine holds it back.
Having such a large ensemble cast also means that certain characters are much less fleshed out than others. I particularly felt like the female members of the cast had less fulfilling arcs than those of Lorne Michaels or Chevy Chase. I was also disappointed with the portrayal of Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun) as a prudish hippie. While Braun’s Henson says he wants to make adult-oriented Muppets material, the film shows him refusing to swear or to use scripts that portray the Muppets in violent situations. While not authentic to the real Jim Henson, this is a very small piece of the movie, and won’t alienate most audiences — but as a longtime fan of the Muppets, this definitely stood out to me.
While the film touches on issues of gender and race, its short runtime and packed script keeps it from fully exploring anything deeper. In many ways, Saturday Night as a film parallels the story it’s telling — the show has a history of a lack of diversity, and while Reitman attempts to explore this through the arc of Garrett Morris, the lack of screen time allocated to both Morris and the female members of the cast means that Saturday Night ends up repeating many of the mistakes of the show it recreates.
Where Saturday Night’s script shines is in its singularity. Reitman breaks from many of the tropes and traditions of a typical docu-drama film and creates something just as unique as the show itself. The film shies away from montages of famous sketches and over-the-top references to future events. The choice to focus on an ensemble cast in the moments before the initial broadcast rather than making a biopic about a single cast member is especially refreshing. Saturday Night, just like SNL, refuses to follow genre conventions, and its best moments come from this rebellion.
Fans of SNL will definitely get the most out of this film. Saturday Night is full of references to beloved sketches and iconic moments that demonstrate Reitman’s passion for the show. Above all else, Saturday Night, much like early seasons of SNL, is a labor of love. While I admittedly have never been a huge fan of Saturday Night Live, I always appreciate when filmmakers are able to create something as earnest as this. The passion of the cast and crew is palpable through the screen, and I found myself always entertained by their frenetic energy. While it has its flaws, the excellent cast and the passion of the creatives means Saturday Night is still worth a watch.
Nicholas York is a sophomore in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He can be reached at [email protected].