In the modern world, every piece of work has to have an origin story, or else, nothing seems to make sense. Saturday Night, directed by Jason Reitman, is said to be a guaranteed mix of fantasy, history, and nostalgia. This is more so the case because the events in the show appear in real time. The show revolves around the events of October 11t,h 1975, taking place at Studio 8H. This will sit well with those who have ample memories of this show, while those who have newer perspectives may find the show all over the place. After all, it is a mix of fantasy and history which especially in such shows is difficult to balance out.
In fact, to the degree a plot exists, it is the heroic effort of the 30-year-old Lorne Michaels, who is played by Gabriel LaBelle, to create what he envisions as an avant-garde sketch comedy show. Although it may be overdone, it is important to note that Lorne had many forces working against him, from the Channel Networks to the feminist debates among cast members. Nonetheless, the greatest achievement was filming an episode. But now, it looks fascinating to see how much Michaels has accomplished as it seems the whole Universe had its barriers set to stop him from achieving anything.
There is a ring of truth to quite a number of the mini-dramas that occur in two hours leading to the air time. There are some though, which run their origin in imagination alone. There is no evidence to suggest that Johnny Carson ever placed a phone call to Michaels nor is there reason to believe that Milton “Mr. Television” Berle ever paid a visit, although J.K. Simmons’ performance as the arrogant, legendary performer is one of Saturday Night’s highlights. For the most part, no one else other than Michaels has a great story arch, whereas a couple of the supporting actresses have what can be referred to as “highlight scenes”. Chevy Chase is convincingly made real by Cory Michael Smith. Matt Wood’s John Belushi turns out to be very on target. Matthew Rhys seems to replicate the bristly genius of George Carlin. Others, such as Kim Matula’s Jane Curtin, Rachel Sennott’s Rosie Shuster, Ella Hunt’s Gilda Radner, Lamorne Morris’ Garrett Morris, Emily Fairn’s Laraine Newman, and Dylan O’Brien’s Dan Aykroyd, are more of background figures, simply standing or speaking a line or two. They are there principally because of the need for the chronology of events.
Saturday Night has the feeling of Noises Off, which was a play and a movie in the early 1990s that focused and mocked the chaos that happened behind the curtains during the performances of the respective play. Some might also recall the film Being the Ricardos, released in 2021, which analyzes the intricate details involved in making one of the episodes of I Love Lucy. (As an aside, J.K. Simmons is in that one too.) Stylistically, it’s closer to Birdman with its extended camera shots and cut shots. The approach of Reitman’s is active indeed; the movie that has resulted is choppy, and chaotic almost and throws the audience headlong into the pandemonium. There is simply so much that is going on, even off-screen that the viewer often tends to lose focus. And, as one can imagine, considering the antics in the movie, including those of comics and comic actors, a fair amount of action is comical. There are a couple of mistakes, as in one case John Belushi is thought to be would ice skate, and while the intention was to make the volume softer, which the performance in question did not warrant and did. And Willem Dafoe’s morally disgusting NBC executive is just a device, a tool of convenience.
The film closes with an attempt to recreate the cold opening featured in the first-ever live telecast of the Saturday Night episode. Yes, the production values are high but the audience would have loved to see much more than what was shown in this movie. The ideal way to conclude the film would have been a montage of all the best clips of the last show but evidently, this was not the case for Reitman. I did what I could. He did not manage to find the clips (most likely, because it was too costly or Comcast, the present owner, would not sell rights). That implies that while he may have been able to provide a ‘muscle memory’ of the day, he didn’t have any material from the purpose-made version. Considering how the Sabado Gigante show is entertaining, what was depicted here is entertaining albeit disjointed and when most Saturday nights, 11:30 pm.
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