Director: Jason Reitman
Writer: Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan
Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, and Kim Matula
Hello and welcome back to another week here at Mindless Movie Reviews. It’s true that October is spooky movie season, but I couldn’t resist watching this movie. I’ve been excited to see this since I heard about it. As a fan of both Saturday Night Live and of Director Jason Reitman I knew it would be good. So, I decided to forgo a more Halloween-oriented movie and treat myself to this. But before the show goes on, it’s time for the usual red tape, the spoiler warning. If you haven’t watched this yet and don’t want to know if the show Saturday Night Live fails or not, then you may want to instead go to my homepage here, to see what other goodies I have in store for you.
If you continued on, I appreciate it, but no time for that, let’s get right to it. “Saturday Night” is the newest film by Director Jason Reitman and his co-writer Gil Kenan. At its core, it tells the story of the final 90 minutes before the show went live for the first time on October 11, 1975. But through good story-telling and character dialogue, we learn so much more about the cast and crew. Not just what they are currently dealing with, but some historical facts about them as well.
But I am burying the lead here, I would be remiss if I didn’t wax poetic about the casting for this film. Unfortunately, the casting won’t be able to win an Academy Award for this amazing job since it won’t be a category until 2025 and beyond, according to their website. Seriously though every single person who was chosen to play the role they were hired for did an absolutely great job and the crew did an even better job of making them look like they were the SNL cast of 1975.
I don’t need to name them all, but I have to at least give a shoutout to the main cast Gabriel LaBelle (as Lorne Michaels), Rachel Sennott (Rosie Shuster), Cory Michael Smith (Chevy Chase), Ella Hunt (Gilda Radner), Dylan O’Brien (Dan Aykroyd), Emily Fairn (Laraine Newman), Matt Wood (John Belushi), Lamorne Morris (Garrett Morris), and Kim Matula (Jane Curtin). If I didn’t know any better, I would think this group of young talent was made for these roles, all the way down to the way they walk. According to IMDB.com, John Papsidera was responsible for the casting and I give him a bravo!
So, the film starts with Michaels waiting outside for someone. We learn that person is Andy Kaufman and as he is escorted inside, we get our first look at the mayhem and madness going on behind the scenes with less than one and a half hours before the first show begins. As we are moved from room to room, and issue to issue, Michaels is taking it in stride the whole way without wavering. When I say issues, that is quite the understatement as well. From lighting structures falling from the rafters, to cast members fighting amongst themselves, to crew members and censors putting up roadblocks at every turn.
Michaels remains as cool as the other side of the pillow throughout, even when he has to meet a group of guys who represent the affiliates. Even his biggest hurdle Willem Dafoe’s Dave Tebet doesn’t phase him. It’s not until we get below the 30-minute mark and Belushi still hasn’t signed his contract that he starts to unwind a bit. Tebet even threatens to show a re-run of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson instead of letting his show take the air.
Finally, after he tracks down Belushi, changes out of his blood-stained clothes (fake blood, it wasn’t that bad), and makes the final cuts on which sketches to put in the show, Michaels is back on track. As the final brick is literally laid as the audience is coming in, the band plays a song and the show starts instead of the Carson rerun. Now here we are 50 years later and the show is still taking the air live at 11:30 every Saturday Night.
Overall, this was a chaotic but brilliant movie and Reitman did a great job of capturing the moments that happened that night. I have lots of questions after watching this though. Like was Milton Berle (JK Simmons) a ladies’ man even in his 70’s? Was Billy Crystal backstage the whole time ready to do a four-minute set but then cut in the 11th hour? Was Aykroyd trying to hook up with all of the female stars/writers on the show? This makes me not only want to watch the first ever episode again, but it also makes me want to do some research on some of the people I saw presented in the movie.
This was pure entertainment and a good time. With casting leading the way in my book. With all of that, I can easily give this an 8 out of 10!
That’s it for this week, join me next week for more mindless movie fun of some sort.
Very nice. I will have to watch it. I am an avid SNL watcher and particularly love the early days.