Saturday Night (15)
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Gabriel LaBelle, Dylan O'Brien, Matt Wood, Cory Michael SmithGenre: Comedy
Author(s): Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan
Director: Jason Reitman
Release Date: 31/01/2025
Running Time: 109mins
Country: US
Year: 2024
At 10pm on October 11, 1975, producer Lorne Michaels whirls around the NBC Studios building in the run-up to going live at 11.30pm with the first episode of his comedy sketch show Saturday Night. He witnesses a public showdown between censor Joan Carbunkle and acerbic head writer Michael O'Donoghue while a seven-strong cast stumbles through final rehearsals. Special guests seek Michaels' counsel as his wildly overbudgeted production spirals out of control.
LondonNet Film Review
Saturday Night (15) Film Review from LondonNet
Unfolding almost in real time, director Jason Reitman’s breathlessly staged comedy drama imagines the pulse-quickening backstage chaos before the taping of the 1975 launch episode of NBC sketch show Saturday Night, which would be rechristened Saturday Night Live. Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan draw inspiration from interviews with living cast and crew, who experienced the nail-biting tension firsthand, to parachute us into the middle of escalating madness at NBC Studios in Manhattan…
“Are you OK?” an NBC staff member (Finn Wolfhard) asks producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) before he heads into battle with dismissive executives and mutinous crew. “Ask me in 90 minutes,” he smiles. Thus, Reitman’s picture starts a stopwatch at 10pm on October 11, 1975 and for roughly the next hour and a half, the pace rarely slackens. Several scenes are choreographed as unbroken single shots on a handheld camera that skilfully bobs and weaves between backroom conversations, capturing the persistent hum of adrenaline that needs to detonate with purpose at 11.30pm with the warmly welcoming catchphrase, “Live from New York, it’s Saturday Night!”.
The ambition of Reitman and Kenan’s script ultimately exceeds its grasp, barely registering some of the vast ensemble cast within a 109-minute running time that passes in a delectable blur. However, the carefully controlled pandemonium delivers a steady stream of hearty guffaws. Saturday Night is undemanding and slickly engineered nostalgia.
Supported by NBC’s director of weekend late night programming, Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), Lorne Michaels (LaBelle) whirls around the building in the run-up to going live at 11.30pm. He witnesses a public showdown between censor Joan Carbunkle (Catherine Curtin) and acerbic head writer Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey), who likens television to “a lava lamp with slightly better audio”.
A seven-strong cast comprising Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris), Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn) and Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) stumbles through final rehearsals while Michaels struggles to articulate his vision. “I know the ingredients, just not the amounts,” he confesses. Special guests George Carlin (Matthew Rhys), Jim Henson (Nicholas Braun) and Andy Kaufman (Braun again) seek Michaels’ counsel as his wildly overbudgeted production spirals out of control. “You love surprises like Anne Frank loved her drum set,” quips Michaels’ wife and writer, Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott).
Saturday Night is a self-congratulatory pratfall down memory lane from an era oblivious to political correctness, when smoking cigarettes indoors did not raise eyebrows and cast and crew forcefully slapped each other’s backsides as playful salutations. LaBelle is an instantly endearing ringmaster, visibly shouldering tension as showtime approaches. Co-stars convincingly embody famous faces but sensibly resist note-perfect mimicry. The show must go on regardless of whether everyone is ready.
– Sarah Lee
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