Go Crazy When Live from New York it’s ‘Saturday Night’

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Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Kinetic. Frenetic. Chaotic. Live! Those are just some words to describe the Saturday Night Live origin story “Saturday Night.” Director Jason Reitman has infused this nearly real time tale of the struggle to get the first episode of SNL with an energy that grabs your attention and never lets go. That takes some doing when we all know the ending. SNL would not only make it onto American airwaves, but it would become an improbable television institution and comedy touchstone, now celebrating its 50th season.

We begin in the 90 minutes between the end of dress rehearsal and showtime, and creator Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is besieged on all sides as he attempts to bring it to life. He’s got three hours of show and just 90 minutes of air time. The network suits, represented by Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman) and Dave Tebetts (an oily Willem Dafoe) are either trying to compromise it or kill it before it ever makes air. There are technical problems, fisticuffs backstage, and oh, John Belushi (Matt Wood) still hasn’t signed his contract and hates the bee costume. Michaels can’t even get an audience in the seats or sponsors to actually pay for commercial time.

Saturday Night
Photo credit: Columbia Pictures

In Reitman’s retelling, backstage at that first “Saturday Night” is a steady stream of drugs, egos, anxiety, and potential as comedians – who mostly trained in Toronto and Chicago on the stages of The Second City – embrace the stage with equal parts fear and gusto. The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players are all portrayed by up and coming comedians who find their own spin on the famous faces they’re playing.

The film wisely tells the story from Michaels’ point of view as he runs up and down the halls of NBC-TV’s 30 Rock putting out one fire after another. Amid this stream of chaos, strong personalities emerge. Dylan O’Brien manages to capture the rat-a-tat speaking style and encyclopedic intensity of Dan Aykroyd, who’s corralling Belushi one minute and putting the moves on the female cast members the next. Cory Michael Smith manages to channel the early promise of Chevy Chase while providing early warning signs of the massive jerk he would later become.

As pivotal as Belushi would become to Saturday Night, he’s more of a cameo here. It is Chicago’s own Lamorne Morris who does a lot with his screen time, channeling original cast member Garrett Morris in his confusion about what role he’s actually expected to play in the merry band of TV anarchists. While Rachel Sennott shines brightest as sketch writer Rosie Shuster (and Lorne’s then wife), she shares their tricky dynamics at home and at the show. He may be the creator, but he knows and she knows that it won’t happen without her guiding the ship amid chaos.

1975 Re-created in ‘Saturday Night’
Photo credit: Columbia Pictures

Behind the scenes, the show’s comedic “Prince of Darkness,” Michael O’Donaghue (Tommy Dewey), scores the best lines doing battle with network censors and skewering The Muppets with fiendish glee. Succession’s Nicholas Braun is quite enjoyable as well in a dual role as the Muppet Man himself Jim Henson, and groundbreaking comic Andy Kaufman. There’s also J.K. Simmons popping in as one time “Mr. Television,” Milton Berle, and Chicago’s own Tracy Letts is the “Weekend Update” co-creator Herb Sargent, as well as a spot-on Matthew Rhys as the coked-out first guest host George Carlin.

Jason Reitman’s film is a pulsating, lively, and often very funny bit of TV mythology. I don’t think a documentary crew could corroborate half of what goes on here, and does this film take the creation of an uneven live comedy program a bit too seriously? Maybe. But Reitman has packed everything but the kitchen sink into this one hour and 48 minutes … and I frankly couldn’t get enough.

By SPIKE WALTERS Contributor HollywoodChicago.com spike@hollywoodchicago.com