Producers: Jason Blumenfeld, Peter Rice, Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan Director: Jason Reitman Screenplay: Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman Cast: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Matt Wood, Dylan O’Brien, Lamorne Morris, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn, Kim Matula, Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons, Nicholas Braun, Jon Batiste, Cooper Hoffman, Finn Wolfhard, Tommy Dewey, Matthew Rhys, Kaia Gerber, Naomi McPherson, Robert Wuhl, Taylor Gray, Nicholas Podany, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tracy Letts, Paul Rust, Mcabe Gregg, Billy Bryk, Ellen Boscov, Catherine Curtin, Rowan Joseph, Leander Suleiman, Corinne Britti, Josh Brener, Brad Garrett and Kristy Woodward Distributor: Sony Entertainment/Columbia Pictures
Grade: C+
There’s lots of brilliantly choreographed hubbub but surprisingly little fun in Jason Reitman’s tribute to NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” now celebrating its fiftieth anniversary on the air. Structured as a wild and crazy recreation of the ninety minutes preceding the first broadcast of October 11, 1975, the movie comes across as a breathless counter-cultural “let’s put on a show” extravaganza that’s long on nostalgia but, sadly, short on laughs.
It’s also, as one might guess, short on accuracy. Though putting on a ninety-minute variety show live was undoubtedly a high-pressure experience in 1975—Sid Caesar and his cohorts had done it a quarter-century earlier, but those days of early television were long gone—much of the chaos depicted in Reitman’s movie is exaggerated, fashioned from incidents that occurred later in the run, or simply manufactured for effect. A few elements actually happened—John Belushi (Matt Wood) hadn’t signed his contract until minutes before the premiere, and there was a backup plan to run a tape of a movie in case producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) couldn’t pull it off—but some of the most memorable moments, like an intrusive visit by Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons), whose confrontation with Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith) is far from amicable, and a nasty phone call from Johnny Carson—didn’t happen. Nor, it seems, was network executive David Tebet (Willem Dafoe) lurking around, anxious to pull the plug until—in the last-minute show of support that ends the movie—he issued the “go live” order even as the last brick was being laid on the set.
But one shouldn’t expect a documentary treatment in a movie like this, and the fact that the script is a patchwork of fiction, history, and semi-history isn’t really bothersome. Far more important is that the patchwork should be energetic and hilarious. And while “Saturday Night” is definitely hectic, it’s not terribly funny.
Its failure certainly isn’t for lack of trying. Everyone’s bustling about here, and the choreography of the action captured in Eric Steelberg’s swiftly moving camerawork and the crisp editing by Nathan Orloff and Shane Reid is very impressive. The main focus is on Michaels and his wife, writer Rose Shuster (Rachel Sennott), as they rush around trying to decide what material to include and what to cut while dealing with disasters like power outages and collapsing light fixtures; they’re portrayed as an oasis of sanity amid the who-gives-a-damn attitude coolly exemplified by chief writer Michael O’Donoghue (Tommy Dewey), whose contempt for the network censor is a running joke.
Centering “Saturday Night” on Michaels makes sense, especially as he’s now the elder statesman who’s overseen the program for nearly half a century. But LaBelle demonstrates little charisma as the frazzled newbie trying to herd cast and crew into order to put on his dream show while everything seems to be conspiring against him.
Of course, the on-air performers have to have their spotlight moments, but they’re often truncated and the result is very much hit-and-miss. Musical guests Billy Preston (Jon Batiste, who also composed the pulsating score) and Janis Ian (Naomi McPherson) get to rehearse their songs pretty fully. As impersonated by Smith (physically only approximate) and Wood (spot on), Chase and Belushi get the lion’s share of screen time, the former already considering his future options and the latter depressed over having to wear a bee costume, with neither much liking the other. Dylan O’Brien, not a perfect match physically for Dan Aykroyd but nailing the voice, has his moments as well, while Lamorne Morris impresses as Garrett Morris, a classically-trained actor/singer wondering how he’s gotten involved in such lowbrow stuff (he also wows his colleagues with a provocative song), as does Nicholas Braun as Andy Kaufman (he gets to do the entire “Mighty Mouse” bit, while also doubling as Jim Henson, whose Muppets get no respect).
On the other hand, the women—Ella Hunt’s Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn’s Laraine Newman and Kim Matula’s Jane Curtin—are pretty much relegated to the background, as also are Taylor Gray’s Al Franken, Nicholas Podany’s Billy Crystal, who does however protest a decision to cut his sketch, which is then omitted entirely, and even Matthew Rhys’s George Carlin, the evening’s host, who’s depicted as drugged-out and obstreperous even though, as footage of the actual premiere shows, he actually played a prominent part in the proceedings. By contrast Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman), Michaels’ harried network minder, console engineer Dave Wilson (Robert Wuhl) and the unnamed page played by Finn Wolfhard have a good deal of screen time. There are plenty of others in the large ensemble, but most do virtual cameos: Tracy Letts, for example, is allotted one short speech as a haggard writer, and Josh Brener one scene as Alan Zweibel, the writer plucked by Michaels from a barroom job churning out jokes for a loudmouth comic (Brad Garrett).
The production design by Jess Gonchor italicizes the claustrophobic feel of the cramped NBC studio, relieved only by a few trips to the streets outside; the costumes by Danny Glicker catch the period feel nicely.
One can appreciate Reitman’s desire to celebrate a television program that’s become a national institution, as well as the man who’s overseen it for five decades. Unhappily “Saturday Night,” like many episodes of the show itself, is of only middling quality.