Film review: The ground-breaking sketch show Saturday Night Live has amused American viewers for 50 seasons since its debut on October 11, 1975. It’s been the launchpad for generations of comedy stars – 21st-century alumni of the show include Will Ferrell, Bill Hader, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristen Wiig, Jason Sudeikis, Seth Myers and Jimmy Fallon. Earlier, the likes of Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler and Mike Myers got their start on SNL.
Still produced by original creator Lorne Michaels, who turns 80 this month, the NBC show has gone from its counter-cultural comedy beginnings to a showbiz institution, famous for its political impersonations and satire, celebrity guest hosts and utter silliness.
But before the age of YouTube, it’s never been readily available in NZ. The film Saturday Night, though, gives us a chance to relive its early days with an energetic, rambunctious and frequently hilarious behind-the-scenes dramatisation of its first-ever episode.
Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air, and son of director Ivan Reitman) assembles a terrific cast to play Michaels and SNL’s original ensemble, which included Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Akroyd and Jane Curtin, as they race to put out the first 90-minute live episode. The film is a partly fictionalised account dressed up as fact, but as you ease into the frenetic, adrenalin-spiking depiction, it ceases to matter exactly what’s true and what isn’t – it’s all just such a good time.
Michaels is portrayed by Gabriel LaBelle, who played the young Steven Spielberg in the director’s semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans. His performance holds this helter-skelter movie together as the plucky Michaels cajoles his cast and crew. Nicholas Braun (cousin Greg in Succession) plays two real-life performers – Jim Henson (who had an unloved regular Muppets sketch on SNL’s first season) and the esoteric comic Andy Kaufman – both superbly. Corey Michael Smith (May December) is a stand out as Chase, and relative newcomer Matt Wood is sensational as the iconic Belushi.
Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan have produced a genius script full of one-liners – “that’s not a budget, it’s a ransom note!” – and inside jokes, and there’s a running gag about the crew pulling the wool over the eyes of the network’s official censor.
The backstage chaos on screen is pretty stressful for the viewer and some may be frustrated at the narrative contrivances – unsigned contracts, a falling lighting rig, actors gone awol. But it all conveys the excitement of working in live television and makes for an entertaining if exhausting peek at a moment in US television history.
Rating out of five: ★★★★½
Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, is out now.
