“Saturday Night” tells the story of the getting the first ever episode of the Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live,” the famous late-night sketch show off the ground and ends right as the show is set to go on the air for the first time on October 11, 1975. The show, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, is known for its spot on impressions and this movie did not disappoint on that front. Jason Reitman co-writes and directs the movie featuring impressive depictions of the original Saturday Night Live cast and crew.
Live television can be chaotic and no matter how prepared you are, can be unpredictable. The movie is told in real time, with a time stamp marking the progression of the movie starting at 10 pm leading up to 11:30 pm. We see a nervous looking showrunner and executive producer Lorne Michaels anxiously waiting for a cab to arrive. At the same time, we see a young NBC page is trying to recruit a live audience for the show. Inside, the players are waiting for scripts and also to know if they will even get approval to be on the air. Michaels has to juggle many hats, marriage counselor, teacher, therapist, to get people on board to his vision.
Many people are trying to get time on the show, which is running over, including an up-and-coming comedian Billy Crystal, who ends up getting cut for time. One of the more poignant scenes is Lorne meeting with a group of NBC executives and affiliate studio heads to convince them that the show is necessary. “Describe it,” they say. “What is it,” they ask. “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready. It goes on because it’s 11:30,” the screen quotes him. As he scrambles to answer, a confident Chevy Chase does his routine for the crowd, much to their delight. Chase is a cocky as ever as he chats with an exec who pitches him as a replacement to Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show.” As things come together, Carson is threatening the new show. It’s either show Carson reruns or the live show which the network thinks is bound to fail. Milton Burle himself is threatening to destroy the show before it airs, reminding Chase that he is the king, “Mister Television.” Plus, the network heads are also giving their opinion.
The cast does a fantastic job of bringing the Not Ready for Primetime Players for life, most notably Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Ackroyd, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin and as John Belushi.
Jon Batiste provides the music and does a rendition of Billy Preston’s “Nothing From Nothing.”
The movie is told in real time, with the time stamp marking the progression of the movie starting at 10 pm. Lots of time is spent on the executives which means not as much time gets devoted to the players, especially the female cast members, Jane, Lorraine and Gilda. It would have been great to see more of them. Just like the actual show on given Saturday night, some of it works really well and some not as well as others. Still, it’s a good movie that should be seen,
“Saturday Night,” now in select theaters, opens wide on Friday, October 11.
Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan
Cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Jon Batiste, Cooper Hoffman, Andrew Barth Feldman, Kaia Gerber, Tommy Dewey, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys and J. K. Simmons.
Costume Designer: Danny Glicker
Music by Jon Batise
1 hour and 49 minutes
Rated: R
