“We just need to make it to air.”
Jason Reitman is the kind of filmmaker who is especially hard to pin down. The writer/director has taken on a chameleon-like approach to his work with no two films remotely alike on the surface. The sweet bite of Juno, the thoughtfulness of Labor Day, and the historical retelling of The Front Runner all feel like different films from different filmmakers. However, each one contains a quest for an understanding of the worlds they depict and a lack of judgment on the director’s part that has secretly become his trademark. The result is a collection of films featuring people caught at one impasse or another and Reitman’s determination to see them through to the end. The latest of these explorations takes us to New York in the 1970s where one of America’s most iconic landmarks is about to be born.
Set on the night of October 11, 1975, Saturday Night centers on Lorne Michales (Gabriel LaBelle), the producer and creator of a new variety show that seems to be coming apart at the seams hours before its TV debut. As he deals with an unpredictable cast, rigid censors, the network brass, and a missing studio audience, Lorne clings tight to his belief in the show as air time approaches.
Saturday Night is a pulsating film that’s full of delicious nostalgia, well-written dialogue, and a spirit that’s just as infectious and energetic as the people up on the screen. Although the movie takes the time to slow things down once in a while, the adrenaline of the piece comes from the manic, frenzy nature of live television, which is shown here to be a beast that’s unstoppable, but somehow tamable. The total lunacy that exists within the world of variety shows is on full display here, giving folks an insight into an art form that many have assumed was easy to pull off. Using a real-time storytelling device, Reitman recreates this world and brings us into it through near-perfect pacing, electrifying musical cues, and a contagious feeling flowing through everyone that anything, be it brilliance or catastrophe, is about to happen. Reitman’s Altman-esque touch with regard to the many different characters and subplots, including apprehensive actors, unpredictable writers, and a lack of faith from the network, places the audience right into the era and landscape of early SNL with such authenticity and total investment.
More than just a recreation of one of the most iconic shows ever to air, Saturday Night is a film about the creative spirit and the unwavering nature required to sustain it. The level of belief and faith in what a person is creating and how intensely unmovable they, as the creator, must be in order for it to survive is what is at the heart of the movie. Reitman shows how sturdy, steadfast, and, to a degree, ruthless, someone such as Lorne Michaels needed to be in order to protect what he created if it was ever to make it to air. Even when that vision wasn’t understood by many surrounding him (which Saturday Night makes a point to show was the case), the fierce protection he showed towards it was vital for its survival. Michaels’ reputation over the years has reflected this with various claims of toughness when it came to what’s made it to air on Saturday Night Live. What this film does (admirably, I might add) is to show why he’s had to assume that role from the beginning. Creatives have notoriously had an image of being flighty or flaky in the eyes of others, a perception that isn’t going away. What Saturday Night does is show how at their core, creatives are some of the most determined and strong-willed individuals you could ever hope to meet.
There’s a real thrill and an unexpected poignancy at seeing a cast of up-and-coming talent portraying a group of then-up-and-coming talent. Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Matt Wood as John Belushi, and especially Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase (the most uncanny of the bunch) are all delights as the not ready for prime time players. Meanwhile, Cooper Hoffman as producer Dick Ebersol, Willem Dafoe as David Tebet, and Rachel Sennot as Rosie Shuster add some depth and gravitas to the whole shebang. However, it’s LaBelle who gives the most commanding turn as Lorne, showing us both the passion and ferocity that have come to represent his real-life counterpart’s persona for decades.
Many of those choosing not to give Saturday Night a try are using the well-worn “I already know the ending” argument as their primary reason for not seeing the film. It’s a stance that most have considered tired and boring ever since Titanic thrust it into the mainstream back in 1997. While that movie should have put it to rest, Saturday Night shows it’s still alive, according to certain online pockets when mentioning this movie. Those who do watch Saturday Night will discover that it’s not about the ending, but rather the journey itself. What happens to these people at the end of the story is the capper, certainly, but ultimately means very little without the experience of the path they took getting there. It’s always about the journey; and Reitman, more than most, knows that.
