By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4 cats
Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Cory Michael Smith | Dylan O'Brien | Ella Hunt | Gabriel LaBelle | Rachel Sennott
Year: 2024
Running time: 109
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27657135/reference/
Diane says: “What chutzpah Lorne Michaels had to think he could revolutionize television with ‘Saturday Night Live’! SATURDAY NIGHT is a paean to the cast and crew of SNL, based on memories of the first show in 1975. It’s a mostly furiously paced, frenetic record of the 90 minutes before the show was to go live. Will they pull it off, or will the NBC exec press a button to replay the Tonight Show?
“What fun it was to see bits of the show go by on wheels! The wigs, the shark head… and Andy Kaufman (not on wheels). By the end of the movie, I felt exultant and sentimental. I was convinced that I had seen the SNL comedians themselves.
“The movie sometimes stalls when there is extended dialogue between two characters. Who cares about how Lorne and Rose met? These scenes are a disservice to the rhythm and the story.
“The casting is great. And their numbers are legion. Kudos to Willem Dafoe as an NBC exec, Dylan O’Brien as Dan Ackroyd, J.K. Simmon as Milton Berle (gro-oss!), Nicholas Braus as both Jim Henson and Andy Kaufman, and Cooper Hoffman as Dick Ebersol, trying to rescue Lorne from disaster. And I’m always happy to see Rachel Sennott.
“Lots of fun. 4 cats.
“Screened at Telluride-by-the-Sea.”
Saturday Night