As I write this, the first episode of what would come to be known as “Saturday Night Live” aired nearly fifty years ago. On October 11, 1975, one of the most influential shows in the history of television premiered. It would go on to spawn hundreds of episodes, dozens of stars, scores of iconic moments, and now fifty seasons of television. 

If you ask people their SNL opinions, their favorite cast members or sketches, a few generations* worth of people will eagerly and authoritatively reply. SNL is one of the few institutions left, and it is an institution, that transcends nearly everything. Your MAGA-loving Uncle likely laughed his ass off at Dan Aykroyd’s bananas Bass-O-Matic sketch, just like your childless cat lady Aunt probably chortled through the berserk Totino’s sketch featuring Kristen Stewart.**

Saturday Night Live had to start somewhere. On the aforementioned date of October 11, 1975, the least likely and least qualified people in existence willed the show into existence. It..ah…wasn’t easy! Jason Reitman’s film Saturday Night, does an excellent job portraying the chaos of the show’s maiden voyage, and a somewhat less excellent job portraying the people involved.

Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is a young man in a hurry. Not just in the sense of having ambition, but more so the sense of having eighteen bajillion things to deal with and very little time to deal with them. You see, it’s 10:00 PM, and Lorne’s the creator of “Saturday Night” a television series that may or may not be premiering in ninety minutes. 

The smaller problems Lorne has to deal with are pretty large. The lighting director has quit, after a lighting rig collapsed. One of his writers, Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey), delights in antagonizing the standards and practices rep with increasingly creative filth. Lorne is married to writer Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott). She’s less interested in their marriage and more interested in the titanic possibilities of the show’s social impact. Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun) doesn’t know where to set up his record player and Jim Henson (also Nicholas Braun) is upset that the cast has done depraved things with his Muppets. Nobody knows why a llama is backstage.

Speaking of the cast, they’re their own category of vexations. Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith) is a preening narcissist whose eye is on bigger and better opportunities. John Belushi (Matt Wood) seethes with anger over not being taken seriously, and has refused to sign his contract. Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Jane Curtin (Kim Matula), and Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn) try to push back on the overwhelmingly masculine comedic energy. Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris, no relation) is classically trained, wildly talented, and has no idea what he’s supposed to be doing there. 

The big problem, perhaps the biggest, comes in the form of NBC executive Dave Tebet (Willem Dafoe). He’s old school, a veteran of the golden age of television. He sees a group of twenty-somethings putting on a show that Lorne himself cannot categorize, and he tells Lorne the odds are excellent the entire show will be canceled and replaced by a rerun of Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show.” Lorne also must contend with egomaniacal TV superstar Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons), who simultaneously mocks the new show and angles for a hosting gig. Lorne is trapped in a whirlwind, and somehow he must find a way to bring his show to air or go down in flames. All the while, the clock is ticking, always ticking.

Was Jason Reitman the right director for Saturday Night? Perhaps. As the son of Ivan Reitman, who made a bunch of movies with a bunch of SNL alums, Jason Reitman has been part of this world for virtually his entire life. I imagine he drew upon aspects of his experiences with the film’s jangly energy and chaotic pacing. It works best when it’s rocketing between crises, and we get a glimpse of other dramas for a moment or two. Those microplots, and God, do I wish I’d coined that phrase, are the only way a film with several dozen characters can function. Otherwise, its velocity would be sapped. Even still, there are a few moments where the film slows down and approaches something like mawkish sentimentality. While I understand the reasoning, it’s the kind of thing that old school SNL would viciously mock.

From a plot perspective, the screenplay by Reitman and his Ghostbusters: Afterlife collaborator Gil Kenan functions pretty effectively. Despite the blizzard of problems Lorne must contend with, we always understand why they matter in the moment. Speaking of moments, the script does an excellent job of ratcheting up tension with the countdown to air. As far as characterization is concerned, it’s mostly successful. Kenan and Reitman’s microplots show us brief glimpses of the characters. We see Michael O’Donoghue’s glee toward tearing down the institution of television, the colossal egotism of Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd’s obsession with details,*** and Garrett Morris’ isolation from both the cast and crew. 

The cast works overtime to capture the spirits of the real people they’re playing, and when it doesn’t work, the fault is due to script issues. Lamorne Morris is one of the standouts, and his Garrett Morris is palpably frustrated. He’s wildly talented, highly experienced, and reduced to playing stereotypes and glorified walk-on roles. Rachel Sennott does terrific work as one of the few people who immediately grasps what SNL could be and why it matters. As Rosie Shuster, she understands the nature of the show better than Lorne Michaels, and throws herself into it with a cheerful revolutionary fervor. On the other hand, Matt Wood is ill-served by the script in his role as John Belushi. The character Wood plays isn’t much more than a feral jerk, a monosyllabic creep with a wide variety of grievances. The real Belushi was an immense pain in the ass due to his prodigious drug use.**** He was also one of the most gifted physical comedians in history, and was well-known for his sweetness and genius. Wood is a gifted performer, and the script fails him by wedging him into a one-note role.

We should also take a moment to talk about Gabriel LaBelle. The real Lorne Michaels ran SNL for nearly all of its history. Despite the show’s ups and downs, a great deal of its success is due to Michaels’ intelligence, steadiness, and keen ability to read others. He’s always been the calm center around which a vortex of chaos orbits. LaBelle nearly gets to play that guy, and I think it’s another instance in which he’s let down by the screenplay. For the character to work properly, it ought to take conceptual inspiration from Batman Begins. We should see Michaels thrown into the madness of the premiere and, during the runtime, watch him solve different problems and evolve into the man he would become. Instead, LaBelle has to play a guy overwhelmed for about eighty percent of the film, and then who gets his sea legs during the final twenty percent. When he’s allowed, LaBelle makes interesting choices, and I have no doubt he could have delivered a more complex performance. But the man he could have played is not the man onscreen, and that’s a shame.*****

When SNL’s history features both a moment of comedic genius like “The Last Voyage of the Starship Enterprise” and the impressively humor-free sketch “Jennifer’s Date,” you know it’s something special. It’s appropriate that Saturday Night, much like the show it’s based on, has both triumphs and flaws. Sure, there are aspects of the film that feel as underbaked as some of the show’s worst concepts. But when it really cooks, you understand why SNL has endured since 1975.

*Though, is SNL relevant to younger people now? My kid tells me that, as far as many high schoolers are concerned, SNL is mildly amusing but more of a gateway to edgier and more interesting comedy.

**For what it’s worth, I’m an Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer ride or die.

***Though Belushi and Aykroyd were famously close friends. It makes it a little strange when, in the movie, they barely interact.

****Another odd aspect of the film is the almost complete deletion of drug use. The first few years of SNL were awash in drug usage on the parts of the cast and crew, but you’d never know it from this film.

*****Mea culpa time! I know I yell all the time about how critics should review the movie they saw instead of the movie they wanted, and here, I’m guilty of the same sin. For what it’s worth, a biopic should strive to capture the spirit of its subject and Saturday Night sometimes fumbles.

Tim Brennan Movie Critic

Tim has been alarmingly enthusiastic about movies ever since childhood. He grew up in Boulder and, foolishly, left Colorado to study Communications in Washington State. Making matters worse, he moved to Connecticut after meeting his too-good-for-him wife. Drawn by the Rockies and a mild climate, he triumphantly returned and settled down back in Boulder County. He's written numerous screenplays, loves hiking, and embarrassed himself in front of Samuel L. Jackson. True story.