‘Saturday Night’ Review: Reitman Resurrects the Rabble of 30-Rock Originators [TIFF 2024]
For 50 years Saturday Night Live has been the bedrock of late night comedy, but the story of its premiere night is apparently crazier than any sketch.
Every generation who grew up watching the perennial Saturday Night Live will argue that one generation of the cast was the best. This writer is impartial to the early nineties when Mike Myers characters were infinitely quotable, Phil Hartman and Chris Farley were still retailing us with their indomitable styles of wit and physical comedy, Dana Carvey was earning Emmy nominations like it was nothing, and Adam Sandler hadn’t sold his soul to Netflix.
Those specific examples might drudge up some sad or dark feelings, and that is not the intention of this review, but it does address a key chapter in the history book of Saturday Night - in the 50 year history of the show, there are some bonkers stories. It was mentioned at the TIFF screening that the stories that come out of the debut night of the show are so unbelievable, most don’t believe they are true. That perfect mix of chaos and comedy is arguably why audiences have been tuning into Saturday Night Live for half a century, and why fans should see ‘Saturday Night’.
The story centers around the fabled debut of the show, approximately in the hour leading up to it going live for the very first time in 1975. The (Canadian) commander of sketch comedy, Lorne Michaels (Gabrielle LaBelle) has to juggle not only the production of the show, and ensuring costumes are sewn and sets are built, he has to deal with the egos of his cadre of unproven performers, and the pressure from network executives. In his struggles, Michaels has several partners in the adventure that he can rely on for at least a little support like Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott) and Dick Emerson (Cooper Hoffman). Emerson serves as the voice of reality trying to ensure Michaels really understands what’s at stake, and while he might be a pessimist at times, there is a sense he wants the show to succeed.
With a cast of characters that are burned into the lexicon of pop culture, it would have been easy for director Jason Reitman and the actors to turn the film into its own SNL-like sketch. One of the more enjoyable aspects of everyone’s performance is they never went too far with any kind of impression or idiolect they used, it was more of an evocation of spirit. LaBelle could have easily fallen into ‘Dr. Evil’ territory with Michael’s trademark voice, but would only slip in a touch of the accent now and again. Dylan O’Brien, who brought a young, mustachioed Dan Aykroyd to the film was perhaps the only one who relied too heavily on the cadence of the actor, but that had more to do with the script perhaps letting him down and not giving the actor enough time to do anything worthwhile.
There were other times when fans of the show would perhaps want to see more, but that doesn’t mean it will leave audiences feeling unfulfilled. Ella Hunt, who plays Gilda Radner, had just enough time to remind everyone of the pure joy and spirit that Radner possessed. There were some really great subplots involving the alleged jealousy of Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn) and Billy Crystal (Nicholas Podany) being cut from the show, or Garrett Morris’ (Lamorne Morris) justified paranoia as to why he was cast in the first place.
Nicholas Braun as Jim Henson
O’Brien’s Aykroyd was an exception to the rule (for the most part), as there was just enough for each character to make them a part of the story. Certainly with a cast of this many, some were bound to be forgotten or swept under the rug, but Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan did well to flesh out just a tiny piece for everyone. It all adds a nice bit of seasoning to the stew and really fleshes out the reality of the night in question. There are several great portrayals throughout this film, and in all honesty, ignore anyone who says they devolve into impressions (except perhaps the hilarious take on the almost too-good to believe nature of Jim Henson, played by Succession‘s Nicholas Braun). While LaBelle does extremely well to ground the entire chaotic story, the notable roles have to go to the more ‘damaged’ original cast members.
This writer will confess that ever since Cory Michael Smith gave a near perfect portrayal of the classic Riddler in the otherwise unwatchable Gotham series, that any project he does in the future is a must watch. When it was first revealed that he would be portraying Chevy Chase, it was one of the major draws of the project. Smith (and Chase) got a little more screen time than most of the original cast members, which is really interesting considering how much has come out about the pure toxic nature of the comedian. Even recently, The real life Chase’s tenure on Community ended much like his career on SNL started. He wasn’t exactly a team player.
With Reitman basically being a degree or two separated from the illustrious history of this show (mostly because of how much his father worked with some of the original cast) - you get that personal, nostalgic touch, which might be the only slight criticism there is to make about Reitman and Kenan’s writing. It does appear to present everything, and yes, that’s everything through rose-colored glasses. It does address how difficult a lot of the cast and crew were. How many of them had egos, or drug problems, or doubts, or the inner fighting of the cast and crew, but nothing seems dire. Most notably, with Chase, it almost seemed like Reitman went out of his way to humanize him. It wasn’t so much ego (although, yes that’s a part of it) as it was how much Chase is desperate to be remembered. In fact, the film doesn’t even make Chase the biggest ego. There’s a very memorable scene where JK Simmons, playing Milton Berle, shows Chase what a real dick is. Pun intended.
JK Simmons (3rd from
Matt Wood’s portrayal of John Belushi could have easily fallen into more dramatic territory, but that feels like it would have been a disservice. To merely mention Belushi’s troubled past without really giving it the respect it deserves would have tarnished the memory of the comedian, and more importantly, that was clearly not the tone Reitman intended. This does not, however, lessen the stakes of the film. Audiences were never going to get a redemption story about Chase’s attitude, nor was the film ever going to mine the depths of Belushi’s soul, but any lack of stakes that are felt might simply be the ‘Titanic effect’. The audience knows the ship is going to sink, and we know that SNL is going to become a huge hit.
Perhaps that’s why Reitman didn’t want to dwell on anything overly negative. This is a show to be celebrated, and the film wanted to reflect the positive, rebellious spirit of the show.