REVIEW:
The movie Saturday Night, about the making of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live, was okay. It was enjoyable, but also far from great. And it definitely should have been better. For one thing, the real time gimmick that it employs is pretty smart and creative, and yet it doesn’t quite work.
We don’t really get what we’re looking for during that time. You see, the movie takes place 90 minutes before the very first episode airs. It’s a ninety minute film, set in real time, with real countdowns, like “30 minutes until air,” sprinkled throughout the film. And all of that is great. It definitely helps add to the sense of urgency and excitement. What doesn’t quite work is the content that is given to us in that time.
We love Saturday Night Live because of the skits or sketches. And the movie doesn’t really show us much of that. It doesn’t show us much of the writing of the sketches or the rehearsal of the sketches. Instead, this one is more focussed on the behind the scenes drama with cast members and also studio executives.
Now the impressions of actors like Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd are spot on. But when the story is about behind the scenes technical malfunctions and drama, it’s not exactly about the show that we love to watch. At least not the part that we enjoy so much. And maybe the issue is that all of those table reads and rehearsals don’t take place in the ninety minutes before air, but in the week leading up to the show. If that’s the case, then this movie would have been better had they made it about each day leading up to the show, instead of each minute.
Now, the movie is interesting. It is entertaining. But somehow it also manages to feel a little slow. That’s because it takes time to have Lorne Michaels, the character who is the star of the film, explore his relationships with all different cast members and characters. We watch Lorne go out to the Rockefeller Ice Skating Rink to rescue John Belushi. We watch him to go out to a bar to meet a failing stand up comic and hire a new writer.
These are things that actually slow down the movie, and change the trajectory of the film, driving it off course. It should have stayed focused on the cast and the sketches. It probably should have stayed in the studio the whole movie. That might have helped.