Saturday Night (2024)

Reitman stages his film chronicling the first broadcast of the legendary comedy show as a mix between The West Wing and 30 Rock. He films it as a "real time" countdown to the broadcast starting about 90 minutes before air time when everything that could go wrong appears to go wrong. His version of Lorne Michaels is a young scrappy underdog ready to change TV, under siege from all sides (the TV establishment, his self-obsessed cast, the forces of the universe). I don't know how close to the truth the film skates but whatever it is tense and funny and fun despite knowing how it all ends. 

Yes that's part of the problem with true stories; we know how they end. I wasn't 100% convinced that, seeing everything we just witnessed, NBC would even go with the broadcast. But of coarse they did. It wouldn't have been believable if it was fiction. Perhaps the film goes too far in building up the mythos of that night that it didn't quite feel believable here either. Yet the film is entertaining enough that we are on their side and happy to see if all come together. And the rest is history...

So regardless of the film's accuracy (was Billy Crystal really cut from the first show? was George Carlin really that much of a dick? I'm sure Milton Berle really was...) Saturday Night starts out strong and keeps moving at breakneck pace carrying us right through til the end. We are invested in this group. The sad clowns who are this film's versions of Belushi and Radner make us care. The way it sprinkles Andy Kaufman, Jim Henson (both played by Nicholas Braun), Paul Shaffer, Al Frankin, Janis Ian, Billy Preston, the aforementioned Berle, Crystal, and Carlin, and a spattering of virtual cameos really drive home what a special night this night was back in 1975. But Reitman juggles all these balls so well that it's fun to watch it all play out with rapid fire timing. 

A big part of what makes it work is LaBelle's amazing charisma and screen presence. For such a young actor with limited experience he has truly shown a power for captivating audiences and he does so here, paired so well with Sennott and Hoffman especially. He helps invest us in making what we know will work out work out. It pumps through to the very end and never drags hitting the "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night" line and we can finally breathe. And smile. It all feels just really good. 

I think it could have easily been a bit of a mess but Reitman masterfully tells this story and makes it impossible not to fall in love with. Wether it's the fly on the wall perspective on a special historical moment that makes it so appealing, of the fun and punchy script which keeps us laughing (and often moved), or the delightful cast all clearly loving what they are doing and who they are playing, Saturday Night is a feel good movie for smart people who want to watch something that they can't scroll on their phones during.  

Saturday Night

Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Cooper Hoffman, Ella Hunt, Dylan O'Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J. K. Simmons, John Batiste, Taylor Gray, Robert Wuhl, Brad Garrett

Director: Jason Reitman

Writers: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman