Thoughts: Saturday Night
Very few television shows can be called an institution, but Saturday Night Live has earned that distinction. Currently in its fiftieth season, the show has lasted much longer than its critics could have predicted, especially upon its debut in October, 1975. While the results of each season since then have been, to put it lightly, mixed, it has had enough of an impact on American comedy and culture that it has remained on the NBC lineup.
Saturday Night is director Jason Reitman’s attempt to romanticize the night of the show’s premiere, warts and all; and if you know anything about that fateful night in television history, it was mostly warts. You might assume that a movie about such funny subject matter would be funny too, but that doesn’t appear to be what Reitman had in mind. Instead, the film is strangely serious, ludicrously fast-paced, and technically messy. I hope you like the dimly-lit hallways of Studio 8H, because you’re going to spend a lot of time there!
The cast is jam-packed with stars, most of them doing impressions of the famous cast and crew involved in SNL’s early days. This ranges from entertaining to baffling depending on the person; Cory Michael Smith’s Chevy Chase is like 75% there, while Ella Hunt is given very little to do as Gilda Radner. Some cameos are relegated to mere minutes on the screen, which makes you wonder why they’re there in the first place. Nick Offerman, what happened? As the main character, one would think Gabriel LaBelle’s performance as Lorne Michaels would stand out, but it sadly felt like… well, an impression in an SNL sketch. Not sure if that’s what they were going for.
The direction is impressive at times, but exhausting as a whole; the entire cinema verité approach feels emblematic of my biggest issue with the film: The tone. Sure, I hold SNL in high regard. I re-watch old seasons regularly, and have read Live From New York cover to cover twice. Is it an important show? Absolutely, but it isn’t Shakespeare; Reitman seems to believe this one night is so overwhelmingly world-changing that he has to shoot it like Scorsese. It’s an incredibly reverent film about irreverent comedy. I have my doubts that even Lorne Michaels himself thinks this highly about his show, despite what the script wants you to believe. Plus, the low quality of the last few seasons make that argument for him.
I would say that Saturday Night is only for the comedy nerds in your life, but I actually think that they’d be the most disappointed. Do yourself a favor and just watch the series premiere on Peacock instead; it’s way funnier and a much better way to honor fifty years of television history.