Review-Saturday Night

The end is just the beginning.

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Jason Reitman’s new film Saturday Night brings us into the crazy world that was the countdown to the debut of one of the longest running shows in television history. But not everything was roses leading up to the first on air utterance of “Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”

SNL Producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) attempts to placate John Belushi (Matt Wood) ahead of the show.

From the beginning Saturday Night unfolds essentially in real time starting at 10:00 PM on October 11th, 1975, just 90 minutes before the first episode of Saturday Night Live goes on the air. We are introduced to the cast of characters that we know from those early years of the show, but the central person the film revolves around is the show’s longtime producer, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle). The camera roams through the studio, tagging along behind Michaels almost like a documentary, often panning quickly back and forth between Michaels and whoever he’s talking to at that moment.

The cast is all there, from fast talking Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), to jokester Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien). Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula) are all there with smaller side narratives, but the main concern of the night with the cast is whether Michaels can get loose cannon John Belushi (Matt Wood) to sign his contract, all while staying sober enough to perform. You’ll also find comedian George Carlin (Matthew Rhys) who was the first host, Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun) and his muppets, Andy Kaufman (also Braun) and his record player, and Billy Preston (played by Jon Batiste who also did the music for the film.

So the main players are all there and while we never spend much time with any one character or group, it is clearly Michaels that serves as the focal point of the entire production. It is he that has to go toe to toe with NBC executive David Tebet (Willem Dafoe) and television stalwart Milton Berle (J. K. Simmons). Michaels is on the hook to get Belushi to sign the contract, all while Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman) is trying to get the cast to promote Polaroid cameras on stage.

And while films like this often don’t work because we know the ending, there is a true sense of fear on screen in this film and we actually worry that the show might not make it to air. There is a hint of the threat of a Johnny Carson re-run that could air in place of Saturday Night, but in true underdog fashion, the motley crew bands together and manages to make something new and incredible that would ultimately last for almost 50 years (as of this writing).