Saturday Night

For a show that was actually doomed to fail out the gate, "Saturday Night" was and has been an amazing success considering it has lasted 49 years. As this film unfolds, it becomes difficult to believe that this show would last a year, much less approximately 5 decades. Unfortunately, the show has suffered through the years where a different cast hasn't served the producers well.

At 11:30 pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians, including Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris) and others and writers changed television--and culture--forever. "Saturday Night" is based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live. With the creator and producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) at the helm, or trying to be, it's 'all hell breaks loose time wondering if this show will ever air. Full of humor, chaos, and the magic of a revolution that almost wasn't, we count down the minutes in real time until we hear those famous words: "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!".

Others to round out the cast are Rachel Sennott as Rosie Shuster, Emily Fairn as Loraine Newman, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, Finn Wolfhard as NBC page, Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson, Andrew Barth Feldman as Neil Levy, Nicholas Podany as Billy Crystal, Tommy Dewey as Michael O'Donoghue, Jon Batiste as Billy Preston and J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle. 

This was brilliantly directed with frenzy and raw humor by Jason Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking" '05, "Juno" '07, "Up in the Air" '09, "Young Adult" '11, "Labor Day" '13, "Men, Women & Children" '14, "Tully" '18, "The Front Runner" '18, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" '21) plus TV, shorts and a video. As with his "Thank You for Smoking", this is a dark comedy which Reitman surely excels well with. Considering he hasn't a plethora of experience, considering his years in the biz, he obviously chooses his projects carefully and this has served him well. His late father, the famed director Ivan Reitman definitely passed the directing baton to Jason since this filmmaker is assuredly a consummate pro. His ability to sequence his work is phenomenal, and the way he directed this with a frenetic feel certainly added to the amazement of this show and how it ever got off the ground. It was creatively written by Gil Kenan ("Ghostbusters: Afterlife" '21, "A Boy Called Christmas" '21, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" '24) and Jason Reitman ("Thank You for Smoking" '05, "Up in the Air" '09, "Labor Day" '13, "Men, Women & Children" '14, "The Front Runner" '18, "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" '21, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire" '24) plus shorts. Again, Jason Reitman received that writing gene from his father, Ivan since Ivan Reitman also wrote a fair amount of his films. He has written many films with Gil Kenan so they are basically a writing team. Other than a couple of very small slow places in script, this screenplay soared. It was humorous, frenetic, irreverent (these artists had many issues) and concise, all in a well thought out story. 

Certainly if you're a SNL fan, you'll love this since it leads its audience, in real time, how this show was able to get off the ground and become the iconic show it has been for almost 50 years. With all the chaos, star stroking, writing, sound, set and time restrictions, you'll see it all if you can only get through all the frenzy involved!

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                        Rated: R                                         109mins.