Saturday Night

“The revolution begins at 11:30.”

6.7

2024

1h 49m

ComedyDrama

Director: Jason Reitman

Watch on Netflix

Overview

At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. This is the story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.

Trailer

New Trailer Official

Cast

Lorne Michaels

Gabriel LaBelle

Lorne Michaels

Rosie Shuster

Rachel Sennott

Rosie Shuster

Chevy Chase

Cory Michael Smith

Chevy Chase

Gilda Radner

Ella Hunt

Gilda Radner

Dan Aykroyd

Dylan O'Brien

Dan Aykroyd

Laraine Newman

Emily Fairn

Laraine Newman

John Belushi

Matt Wood

John Belushi

Garrett Morris

Lamorne Morris

Garrett Morris

Jane Curtin

Kim Matula

Jane Curtin

Michael O'Donoghue

Tommy Dewey

Michael O'Donoghue

Dick Ebersol

Cooper Hoffman

Dick Ebersol

Andy Kaufman / Jim Henson

Nicholas Braun

Andy Kaufman / Jim Henson

Reviews

Manuel São Bento

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://talkingfilms.net/saturday-night-review-capturing-the-chaos-and-magic-of-snls-first-broadcast/ "Saturday Night successfully captures the frenetic energy and spontaneous magic of the behind-the-scenes world of SNL, transporting us to the heart of the organized chaos of a live broadcast. Through engaging camera work and fast-paced editing, Jason Reitman and his team recreate the palpable nervousness and unique humor that shaped an iconic show. It's a celebration of the talents who came together to create one of the most enduring, influential phenomena in television history. An irresistible tribute to all who dared to dream big, even when success seemed unlikely." Rating: B+

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CinemaSerf

I think my problem with this was that I remember seeing that opening sketch not long after it was aired in 1975 and it wasn’t funny. That’s kind of what I felt about this whole thing as it in real-time takes us through the ninety minutes before transmission of its creative producer Lorne Michaels (Gabrielle Labelle). The show is nowhere near ready to go, with three hours worth of content slated to fill ninety minutes. His lead talent - George Carlin (Matthew Rhys) thinks the whole thing is rubbish, and John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Chevy Chase (Corey Michael Smith) can’t stand the sight of each other. Meantime, network boss Dave Tebet (Willem Defoe) if menacing about the place with one of those totally supportive faces a football manager gets before he’s fired and the presence of Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun), a llama and a pile of bricks doesn’t leave us with much hope it’ll ever make the air, either. What ensues may well have been the very messy, caesarean, birth of an American institution but for those of us elsewhere in the world, this humour is passé and LaBelle’s passing resemblance to Dudley Moore seems to further intensify just how desperate this nation was to get past the scrupulous thought police (Catherine Curtin) who thought a golden shower was something from a Disney movie. It’s designed to bring together just about every form of innovative comedy, and a very extended version of Janis Ian singing “At Seventeen”, to signal a new direction for late night television but that doesn’t make this either particularly entertaining or enlightening. It’s worth a watch, but if this show isn’t already a part of your psyche, then it’s unlikely this effort will change that.

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