Saturday Night (2024)

A young TV producer by the name of Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is on pins and needles as his new comedy show SATURDAY NIGHT (the LIVE was added later) is set to debut live on air on October 11, 1975. The film is done in real time and set during the 90 minutes just before the show airs. Directed by Jason Reitman (UP IN THE AIR). First off, although based on real people and a real situation, I wouldn't take what we see as gospel. Clearly a lot of dramatic license has been taken. That being said, it's a wonderful movie. Reitman's frenetic pacing leaves you breathless (thank goodness for the handful of "quiet" scenes) and the ensemble of not very well known actors is top notch. The actors thankfully don't do imitations of the well known actors they play but give us the essence of them. I thought two of them in particular stood out: Matt Wood as John Belushi and Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris. It helps if you were or are a fan of SNL but even if you're not, the movie captures the tension and intensity of doing a live production by the skin of your teeth. With Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons (as Milton Berle), Cory Michael Smith, Rachel Sennott, Ella Hunt, Dylan O'Brien, Kim Matula, Nicholas Braun, Emily Fairn, Jon Batiste (who also wrote the excellent underscore), Cooper Hoffman and Matthew Rhys as George Carlin.