SATURDAY NIGHT
(director/writer: Jason Reitman; screenwriter: Gil Kenan; cinematographer: Eric Steelberg; editors: Shane Reid, Nathan Orloff; music: Jon Batiste; cast: Gabriel LaBelle (Lorne Michaels), Rachel Sennott (Rosie Shuster), Cory Michael Smith (Chevy Chase), Ella Hunt (Gilda Radner), Lamorne Morris), Matt Wood (John Belushi), Kim Matula (Jane Curtin), Catherine Curtin (Jane), Emily Fairn (Laraine Newman), Willem Dafoe (Dave Tebet), Cooper Hoffman (Dick Ebersol). Dylan O’Brien (Dan Aykroyd); Runtime: 109; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Jason Blumenfeld, Peter Rice, Gil Kenan; Jason Reitman; Broadway Video/Sony Pictures Release; 2024)
“A nostalgic, playful, and self-indulgent film throwing flowers at the groundbreaking profane classic TV comedy.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A nostalgic, playful, backstage and self-indulgent film throwing flowers at the groundbreaking profane classic TV comedy that started on Oct. 11, 1975, in NYC, and is still on the air but no longer with the same relevancy.
It’s directed by Jason Reitman (“Thank You For Smoking”/”Juno”), who co-writes it with Gil Kenan, bringing together an ensemble cast to try and capture the bouncy flavor it once had.
It follows several of its more popular characters in a workplace setting, as its legendary producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) recruits its comedian cast from Second City and National Lampoon, and tries to assure its nervous executives that things are cool.
Reitman is a fan of the show. Though he loves its comedy, he fails to translate that to the screen with his sketches. This leaves me wondering what it is he wants us to see that will convince a doubter like me that I was missing out on some great entertainment by not being a regular viewer.
Cooper Hoffman plays the exec Dick Ebersol; Rachel Sennott plays Lorne’s writer wife; Lamorne Morris plays the comic star Garrett Morris; Cory Michael Smith plays the egotist comic Chevy Chase. The majority of the cast members are given tiny parts that lack depth. While its female star, Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), is not given the star treatment she deserved.
I felt annoyed that the recreation film was executed more as if a studio tour than a telling story about such a legendary TV program.
Though never a fan of the show, I’ll give it its props for its influence on the pop culture and that such future movie stars like John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien) got their starts on SNL.
It played at the Toronto Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 11/5/2024 GRADE: C+
dennisschwartzreviews.com