Saturday Night – Review

Release Date – 31st January 2025, Cert – 15, Run-time – 1 hour 49 minutes, Director – Jason Reitman

90 minutes before air, the cast of Saturday Night are fighting, there’s no audience and the schedule is over three hours. With risk of cancellation, producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is trying to bring everything together in the hope of creating something revolutionary.

Throughout Saturday Night Gil Kenan and director Jason Reitman’s screenplay reminds us how the cast and, at least some of, the crew are setting out to create something revolutionary. A cathartic variety show of live entertainment for the generation who grew up with TV by the generation who grew up watching TV. Unfortunately, this doesn’t lead to a harmonious feeling behind the scenes of TV as 90 minutes before going to air producer and show creator Lorne Michaels (a truly fantastic Gabriel LaBelle, powering forward amongst the larger-than-life personalities and egos of the characters around him; his exclusion from the conversation is one of the big shames of this awards season) struggles to keep everything together in order to go live. That is if he gets the go ahead from disapproving studio execs (led by Willem Dafoe) who are looking to put on a re-run of The Tonight Show as soon as possible.

As we see fights between the cast (particularly Cory Michael Smith’s cocky Chevy Chase and Matt Wood’s serious, withheld actor John Belushi), split up by the occasional unifying drug use, crew struggle, or simply don’t bother, to set everything up to rehearse for an overbooked schedule there are constant reminders of how different this show was intended to be, and would be, from anything else on TV. It brings about an exciting feeling within the fast-paced countdown which frantically tracks Michaels’ slipping control of each situation.

Yet, there’s comedy in the chaos. Both from the characters we see on screen, easily established in the initial sparks of their first appearances, and their white-hot interactions – writer Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey) has great fun riling up a devout Christian NBC censor (Catherine Curtin) with his multitude of crude jokes and phrases. Much of this propelled by the strong performances from each cast member and the unit they form. Nicholas Podany’s Billy Crystal, worrying his sketch will be cut from the running order, is uncanny while Nicholas Braun seamlessly wanders around as Andy Kaufman in character as Foreign Man from the opening scene and doubles as a writer-tormented Jim Henson. Meanwhile, Rachel Sennott effortlessly rides the spiralling wave of the imminent show as writer Rosie Shuster, also helping to keep the cast and production calm and together, in addition to being Michaels’ wife – there’s a rather nice tone to the ‘it’s complicated’ nature of their relationship and their interactions which have the calmest, yet still pacey, moments of the film. And the cast list goes on without feeling overstuffed due to the understanding ensemble, and everyone getting their moment to shine.

While Saturday Night Live may not always be something that captures the humour of those outside America, the brief moments of sketches, outside of Weekend Update, in this film fail to conjure up many laughs, whether this is intentional or not I’m not sure; however the bulk of the film looking at the behind the scenes details have plenty. Remaining consistent even amongst the rising tension, particularly in the final half hour when everyone is at their most scattered.

Even here it would have been hard to wipe the big smile, and at times grin, from my face. From start to finish Saturday Night is a deliriously entertaining ride with an ensemble cast who instantly gel to create a tour de force build-up to TV history. You can feel a sense of unity amongst those making this film, coming across in just how well tracked it is – particularly by Reitman’s direction, and the tight screenplay – to create the disunity depicted. The hopes for and worries about the show at the heart of the production which is paid respect and admiration to. This is a love letter without the schmaltz. One which clearly shouldn’t be taken as gospel as it barrels forward with relentless pace and energy to make for a brilliantly entertaining ride to match the big personalities on display.

Gabriel LaBelle superbly leads and ties together the no-holds-barred pace and coverage of Saturday Night. Efficiently scripted and directed, there’s plenty of laughs to be found within both the film’s personality and the personalities it displays in full force for maximum entertainment and un-saccharine homage.