‘SNL’ Movie ‘Saturday Night’ Is Pure Cinematic Amphetamine
Ahead of its 50th anniversary next year, Saturday Night Live’s legacy is primed for its share of revisiting. At the forefront is Jason Reitman’s new film Saturday Night, a comedic return to form for the director of Juno and Up in the Air.
From a script co-written with Gil Kenan, Reitman takes us backstage for the sketch show’s first episode. At its frantic core is The Fablemans’ Gabriel LaBelle as show creator Lorne Michaels, saddled with an unruly cast, a censor with a red marker, and a show so overloaded he can’t figure out what to cut first. The network has set him up for failure, and the clock is ticking for Michaels to pull the production together before either the show airs or someone pulls the plug.
Compared to Reitman’s past work, the film offers less of the heartwarming uplift of his biggest hits and replaces it with amphetaminal anxiety. Like he viewed the world of politics in his quickly forgotten The Front Runner about Gary Hart’s presidential campaign, the director immerses us among all of the people and players within the film’s ecosystem. This time, however, Reitman finds the story’s pulse amidst his sprawling cast of characters.