October 14, 2024 · Watch the official trailer
So much happens in the first five minutes of writer/director Jason Reitman’s new movie that it’s quite frankly overwhelming.
At least seven characters are introduced, all working at breakneck speeds as audiences are whipped through the halls of a television studio following a man in his early 20s seemingly in charge but constantly on the edge of a breakdown.
What happens over the course of the next 90-something minutes is nothing short of brilliantly chaotic dramedy that delivers on the expectations set in the opening moments and rarely slows down to give the viewer a chance to breathe.
This makes “Saturday Night” one of the year’s most divisive, love-it-or-hate-it films, a frantic movie relentlessly striving for something more, something bigger, something better in the same way that its characters pursue excellence. When it succeeds, “Saturday Night” is perhaps the most ambitious biopic in some time.
Son of the legendary comedy director Ivan Reitman who worked with many of the show’s stars in films, Jason Reitman’s crowning achievement in his filmography is a messy, beautiful retelling of the final hours leading up to the debut episode of what’s to become television’s most successful variety show, “Saturday Night Live,” in 1975.
With the original cast of characters weaving in and out of frame in a ball of boundless energy, there’s a vibrancy evoking the classic “West Wing” speed dialogue that leaps off the screen.
Somewhere amid the chaos of Reitman’s movie, “The Fabelmans” star Gabriel LaBelle seems to be the audience stand-in, while at the same time, a man barely keeping everything together in order to achieve his lifelong dream as SNL creator Lorne Michaels.
There is a steady presence to how LaBelle maintains composure and act as a counterbalance to the frantic hilarity around him that’s incredibly difficult to pull off, but the simplicity and affability LaBelle brings to the role centers the film and keeps it from going totally off the rails.
Numerous actors play much more famous comedians in “Saturday Night,” which are enveloping, rapturous, yet authentic turns that seem fleeting as they bound in and out of the narrative.
Highlights include a career-best performance from Dylan O’Brian as Dan Aykroyd and almost uncanny work from Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase and Matt Wood as John Belushi that’s so transcendent and authentic in look and sound it’s almost as if the real men were teleported into the movie. None of the plethora of embodiments of real-life comics delve into the territory of caricature, which makes the world of “Saturday Night” even more immersive.
Rachel Sennott is a standout in a film dominated by men as Michaels’ estranged wife and head writer Rosie. Reitman somewhat shortchanges female SNL stars like Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner, and Laraine Newman off to the side in order to focus on lots of other storylines
But the unique way that Sennott’s performance plays off LaBelle’s as Lorne and Rosie subtly determine their own personal relationship amid a much larger chaos provides for some of the most interesting character work in the entire movie.
The film’s larger ensemble cast all have their own moments to shine, including Oscar winner J.K. Simmons as an over-the-top version of TV star Milton Berle, Matthew Rhys as an unintentionally hilarious version of crude comic George Carlin, and recent Emmy winner Lamorne Morris stealing scenes at every turn as his Garrett wonders why he’s even on the show to the point where an entire movie could be based around the strange uniqueness of his lone African American presence in the cast.
Perhaps the best thing about “Saturday Night” is how immersed audiences can get into the world of Studio 8H with a remarkably nuanced and exceptionally well researched production design that replicates the original set. There’s a deep, rich authenticity to every single frame of the film from costuming and hairstyling to production to the cinematography that constantly feels as if the audience is one person being carried through the studio and the vintage 70s aesthetic shot on film has an almost documentarian, behind the scenes vibrancy.
In spite of its chaos, “Saturday Night” should be a frontrunner come awards season with picture, writing, directing and a number of technical categories seeming like locks for nominations though it’s hard to select just one cast member for a supporting performance with “Saturday Night” being a prime example of why there needs to be a best ensemble or best casting Oscar category.
Regardless of whether viewers enjoy or are even familiar with the classic television sketch comedy, “Saturday Night” is more than well worth seeking out in theaters once, if not multiple times, to fully wrap audiences in Reitman’s world.
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