Director: Jason Reitman
Writers: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman
Stars: Rachel Sennott, Dylan O’Brien, Willem Dafoe
Synopsis: At 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. Find out what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.
Saturday Night Live! It’s the late-night show that began one fateful (Saturday) night in 1975. In 2024, about to be celebrating its 50th season, it’s a show that practically everybody in America knows about. While most people likely don’t watch it live anymore, opting to instead watch it the following morning on social media, it’s still one of the most iconic television programs of all time. And here comes a film about that amazing night in television history, which backs up the case that it must be important! In Jason Reitman’s film Saturday Night, celebrating its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, we see the inner-workings of the machine that brought the world some of the most famous and celebrated names in comedy history and beyond. There’s no place like show business, where the show must always go on one way or the other. The film opens with a quote from SNL-creator Lorne Michaels: “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready; it goes on because it’s 11:30.” Despite that, it never really feels like there’s any sort of stakes. That may read a bit harsh, but needless to say that despite its flaws, there is much to enjoy out of Saturday Night.
On a very base level, there’s an inherent interest in seeing how the sausage gets made. With a wildly stacked cast full of up-and-coming stars ready to be thrown into the limelight, Saturday Night does capture some sense of pressure. The film has such a frenetic pace that it’s manufactured to be tense. On one hand, it does make every scene feel as if whichever actor being focused on is doing all they can to command the attention of Reitman and cinematographer Eric Steelberg. Only through sheer charisma will that camera remain steady and hold on deploying its next whip pan. Cooper Hoffman enters the film like a stone-cold movie star. Between his introduction here and in Licorice Pizza, the man simply knows how to enter a film, and we’re all luckier for it. Cory Michael Smith delivers, without question, one of the most star-making performances of the year. He commands your attention and delivers comedy excellence in a way that is bound to keep him on our screens for a long while. Dylan O’Brien runs around the studio in his ever-so-charming way that proves himself, once again, to be the sweetheart of anybody who knows his work. Legendary actors like Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons, even with limited screen time, remind everybody just how much they can stun us with mere minutes to work with. There’s no weak link from the ensemble of Saturday Night. One can only hope that this, much like the show itself, catapults a lot of these individuals into movie stardom. There’s a lot going on within the famed halls of studio 8H during the 100 minutes of this film, and Reitman will be damned if he wastes a second on anything but greatness out of his performers. Before you know it, the camera races off to the next most exciting thing occurring. This way of captivating the camera (and obviously the audience) is something that does work in favor of the excitement. But it does also feel like it harms the overall result of Saturday Night.
The biggest issue seems to stem from the feeling that Saturday Night sort of fizzles out. By the time we get to a moment that should be full of triumph and “I told you so!”, it’s instead met with a shrug and a small curiosity as to what the final image shown will be. From a purely visceral perspective, Saturday Night does work. It’s technically very well-made and structured with a ton of care and precision despite all the chaos it captures. The constant thrashing of the camera and running from scene to scene does convey a sense of thrill that, by the time the show goes live, you do let out a great sigh of relief. But on a character level, there’s seemingly no time provided for anybody to breathe. Even the film’s most central dilemma, an awkward post-marital discussion between Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) and Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), leaves little to no impact on the film or seemingly either character. They’re both excellent as performances, and in the quiet moments they share, you do want to see more. But these scenes of internal dilemma, peppered throughout the film, don’t dive anywhere near deep enough to make this cast feel three-dimensional on an individual level. Sure, they have a little bit of every type of comedy to showcase in their repertoire. That lifts the entire ensemble up. But as far as individual dramatic tension goes, it’s arguably the weakest part of Saturday Night. And if this massive cast proved anything in this film, it’s that they could certainly handle the weight. Let them shine and the film would shine in return!
Even still, it feels impossible to deny the simple pleasures of Saturday Night. This is straight-up one of the funniest films of the year. It operates best as a full-blown comedy, and hopefully, inspires studios to put more in theaters. The very loose, jazzy score (which was composed and produced live) from legendary artist Jon Batiste adds to the frenzy of the film. Coupled with the warm 16mm photography from Steelberg, Saturday Night looks, sounds, and feels incredible. It appears that, more than anything, Reitman had more interest in recreating this fateful moment in history rather than really examining it from angles previously untouched. There’s not really any issue with that, I suppose. As written, the film certainly feels as if a ton of care was placed into it; and that all pays off. But for a film that very deliberately and repeatedly points out the often-essential nature of taking risks in art, Saturday Night doesn’t take all that many. But if you’re coming to the movies looking for an escape that will purely entertain, it would feel like a lie to say Saturday Night isn’t an excellent choice.
Saturday Night celebrated its Canadian premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. For more information on the film, head right here.
