In celebration of the upcoming 50th anniversary of NBC award-winning live sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL), comedian Jason Reitman directed a film meant to commemorate its ongoing success. The film was released on Oct. 11, exactly 49 years after the show’s very first broadcast. The movie takes place in New York City, just 90 minutes before the show’s first live airing on NBC — on condition that it be deemed worthy of airing by cynical NBC executives. The uniqueness of this biopic, however, is how Reitman’s angle of the show wasn’t of its sensation, but how its near-disastrous opening night nearly became its downfall.
As the film begins, we are introduced to a stressed yet hopeful Lorne Michaels, played by Michael LaBelle. Off the bat, we feel Michaels’ anxiety, whose promising visions of the show go beyond awry when implemented with minimal time to prepare. Along with Michaels, other contributors to the show were carefully and brilliantly portrayed, such as “Bottoms” star Rachel Sennot. She charismatically takes the role of Rosie Shuster as an SNL writer, displaying Shuster’s complicated relationship with Michaels as his then-estranged wife. Overall, the entire cast portrays their characters very well, all contributing to the film’s anxious, discomforting and rushed premise.
The entire movie is like live, behind-the-scenes footage of how the night unfolded, giving a realistic impression of how the opening night atmosphere Michaels, the actors, and the rest of the crew must have felt. Oddly, the film’s strength lies in creating a big discomfort for its viewers. Throughout, so many things seem to go wrong, creating more setbacks, so that the 90 minutes feel like 30. Fights break out between the crew, main actors and crew members walk out of the studio intending to resign before air, sketches are cut last minute, and obvious set failures such as broken lighting and an unfinished brick stage all lead to close-call threats of executives pulling the show off the air.
As the film nears airtime, it becomes clear that it would take a miracle for Michaels and the rest of his crew to get everything back on track before going live — a miracle that actually happened. The last 10 minutes of the film provided a complete shift from the film’s expected feeling of failure to a pivotal introduction to what Saturday Night Live has become.
The film’s excellence lies not only in the storytelling and stellar cast, but also in the dedication to the accuracy of the night’s events. From costume design, set design and soundtrack to the film’s closing scene, which is a phenomenal rendition of SNL’s very first sketch, “Wolverines,” everything shows the amount of effort and consideration Reitman and the crew took to really sell the film’s concept.
What I appreciate most about “Saturday Night,” aside from its comedic charm and wit, is that it shows that real-life struggles can bloom into something that will be loved and celebrated for decades to come. The film shows how SNL, though widely acclaimed, is a classic “diamond-in-the-rough” story – which makes it so genuine. Although “Saturday Night” will have you on the edge of your seat until its end, I give this thoughtful biopic five out of five goats.
