In what could be described as “High Noon at Studio 8H,” director, producer, co-writer Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night is a captivating depiction of the chaos involved in putting on a television show as creator Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) strives with, and at times against, his cast and crew to debut a new program, Saturday Night. The show has been a television institution for ages, changing its name to Saturday Night Live in 1977 after ABC’s Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell was cancelled. It is currently airing its 50th season. Over the decades, its characters and cast members have infused into the pop-culture firmament, but as this film illustrates, there was no guarantee the show would even debut the evening of October 11, 1975.
Buy Saturday Night Live: The Complete First Season DVDThe film opens at 10:00 pm, 90 minutes before the scheduled live broadcast of Saturday Night, that is if David Tebet (Willem Dafoe), NBC’s Vice President of Talent Relations, approves. He’s not sure the unproven talent are up to the task, which is not an unreasonable position. Cast members are getting into physical fights. John Belushi (Matt Wood) won’t sign his contract. Head writer Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) is antagonistic towards all authority, including network censor Joan Carbunkle (Catherine Curtin), an unwise decision as she decides what can be said on air. Host George Carlin (Matthew Rhys) refuses to appear in the sketches, and no one wants to write for Jim Henson’s (Nicholas Braun) Muppets.
Lorne tries to keep everyone focused and on target, which grows increasingly harder with each passing minute, especially after he learns this opportunity may have only been given to him as a negotiating tactic related to contract talks between the network and Johnny Carson. But Lorne believes in the program regardless of the doubters, which include cast member Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris) who doubts why he was hired as he has very little to do.
As producer, Lorne is constantly on the go, from wrangling talent into the building to meeting owners of affiliate channels who may air the show, a show he still has to edit as the dress rehearsal ran three hours long. The clock keeps ticking yet Tebet remains uncommitted with a Tonight Show rerun at the ready, which usually aired in the time slot.
Even though history has already spoiled the ending, Reitman has created a suspenseful film. The script, co-written by producer Gil Kenan, has the pacing of an action movie, as does the camera work by cinematographer Eric Steelberg and his team, which keeps the viewer engaged with the scenes. The editing by Nathan Orloff and Shane Reid also deserves mentioning as their deft touch gives the film moments reminiscent of Birdman. Also engaging the audience is the cast, notably LaBelle who anchors the movie as Lorne anchors the TV show while the pre-production tempest swirls about him. Kudos also to those playing the TV show cast. They give an authenticity to the roles of the well-known cast without doing imitations.
One doesn’t have to be a Saturday Night Live fan to enjoy the film because the theme of young people with a new way of doing things versus old people set in their ways is universal. There’s a clear feeling of a changing of the guard taking place as this was the first time a TV show was being created by the generation that grew up on TV. The struggle is not just with Tebet, but veteran crew members who are indifferent to the show and don’t necessarily get the humor of this younger generation. The film champions those who buck the norm and believe in their ideas and in themselves. Those who are fans will enjoy the references, such as Al Franken and Tom Davis working on a future sketch, and Easter eggs. Those who are fans of George Coe may enjoy the film a little less.
