Saturday Night
- jeffgerst
- Oct 19, 2024
- 2 min read
R 2024 Comedy/Thriller 1h 49m
This Fall marks the start of the fiftieth season of “Saturday Night Live” — NBC has an anniversary special planned for February 2025. Coinciding with the anniversary is a new film by Jason Reitman called Saturday Night. Side note: ABC had a variety show called “Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell” so SNL’s original title was “Saturday Night;” that’s why they still say in the show’s opening sketches “Live from New York. It’s ‘Saturday Night.’”
The movie opens with a well-known quote from Lorne Michael, the show’s creator and producer, “The show doesn't go on because it's ready; it goes on because it's 11:30.” The film depicts the behind-the-scenes activities in the ninety minutes leading up to 11:30 of the very first episode of the show. There are frequent cuts to a clock or someone in production saying “X minutes to live” to remind us of time's passage and highlight how little time remains to overcome a litany of issues.
I knew the premise of the movie beforehand, and that hurt my expectations. I was expecting to witness the stresses of putting on a live show (which it does) but also expecting the film to depict the chaos with the accuracy of a great biopic (which it doesn’t). The passage of time leans a little into the reality found on “24.” Also, in the world of the movie, there has never been a single episode of the show yet, but there are references to characters and sketches that don’t exist yet. At first, this took me out of the reality. Eventually, I realized these were all intentional nods and not inaccuracies.
Since "Saturday Night Live" is in its fiftieth season, the clock tension doesn’t build on whether or not the show will go on, but instead, “how will the show be ready to go on?” There is no shortage of roadblocks preventing a smooth show launch. Many of these seem implausible to exist in the hour and a half before the show's start, but I Googled a few of them, and they seem true, so getting the show off is all the more impressive. Aaron Sorkin’s “Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip” demonstrated that capturing the tension of putting on a live comedy show is not a sure thing. The stakes in Saturday Night seem higher because it is the first show and not just another week of a long-running show.
It took me a while to understand the movie. When I did, I realized it was not a great film. It’s probably just a ‘pretty good’ movie. However, it is a terrific love letter to the show. Jason Reitman’s father, Ivan, worked with many SNL cast members in his career. Jason grew up at their knees and holds the show up with great admiration. I recommend Saturday Night, but not as a movie. Instead, see it as an experience. It’s fun to see portrayals of the original Not Ready For Prime Time Players and other people who would become famous, like Lorne Michaels, Paul Shaffer, and Billy Crystal. It’s fun to recognize costumes and references to the show's legacy. As an audience, we are essentially privy to listening to a mixtape that Jason Reitman has made to his sweetheart, "Saturday Night Live."
