Friday, October 11, 2024

Weekend Screen Scene - Saturday Night

Saturday Night is a behind-the-scenes drama about the 90 minutes leading up to the 90 minute premiere of Saturday Night Live (then, just Saturday Night) on October 11th, 1974. The story centers on Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) as he scrambles to get the bloated premiere down to a reasonable number of sketches and performances, deals with temperamental talent, and continually answers the question from the network execs "what is this show??" with, essentially, a shrug and a "wait and see."

And therein lies the biggest problem with Saturday Night, the movie: it centers on the man who was probably one of the least interesting people in that studio that night.

Of course, all the well known Not Ready For Prime Time Players make an appearance, with Cory Michael Smith's turn as a smug Chevy Chase and Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris being the most impressive. (The irony that this version of Garrett Morris plays a bigger part in the fictionalized story of the premiere than the real Garett Morris did in the actual premiere is not lost.)

Guests on the show that night included George Carlin (Matthew Rhy) as the host; Billy Preston (Jon Batiste) and Janis Ian (Naomi McPherson) as the musical guests; Andy Kaufman; and Jim Henson's Muppets. But do NOT ask me why Nicholas Braun, the tallest actor alive, plays both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman.

Watching the mercifully short movie play out, I kept pondering if anyone who has no idea about the history of the show would have any interest in this story, when I, someone who is pretty well versed in the history of the show, could only find mild entertainment in the various "impersonations" that were parading in front of me.

It all feels like a 90 minute build up to the good stuff, which never comes, unless you go home and watch that premiere episode (available to stream on Peacock, along with all 50 subsequent seasons). And it left me questioning director Jason Reitman's choice to champion someone for having a "vision" when that person's constant answer to the question "What even is this show?" is essentially "I don't know."

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