Saturday Night First Reviews – “Masterful”, “Funny” and “A Wildly Entertaining Love Letter”

Jason Reitman's new film, Saturday Night , debuted at the Telluride Film Festival on August 31, but it has now got a wider audience out of the Toronto International Film Festival, and those first reviews are pouring in.

Following that iconic night in October 1975, Saturday Night – originally titled SNL 1975 – documents the chaotic 90 minutes before Saturday Night Live aired on television for the first time.

With a dazzling ensemble made up of exceptional talent including Kaia Gerber, J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe, Ella Hunt, Dylan O'Brien, Rachel Sennott, Finn Wolfhard, Matthew Rhys, Lamorne Morris, Nicholas Braun, Gabriel LaBelle, Kim Matula, Cory Michael Smith, Cooper Hoffman, and Andrew Barth Feldman people had high hopes for this film and the first reviews suggest we may reap the rewards of that.

"With a killer ensemble of more than 80 speaking roles... this is a masterful movie comedy firing on all cylinders," says Deadline's Pete Hammond of that wildly stacked cast list.

" Saturday Night serves as a love letter to the millions of global fans who have religiously tuned in to decompress and get their giggle on," says Carla Renata at TheWrap before highlighting some of those 80-something stars, "Lamorne Morris, Cory Michael, Smith, Kim Matula and Matt Wood are fantastic as their iconic counterparts."

Maureen Lee Lenker at Entertainment Weekly says "It might not be as provocative as its source material, but live from New York...it's a wildly entertaining love letter to a night of television that marked a cultural watershed."

Not everyone had high praise, however.

David Ehrlich at indieWire criticized the film for leaving out people who may not know all the Saturday Night in-jokes, saying, "it requires a casual knowledge of the show's lore to understand, let alone to enjoy."

The Hollywood Reporter's Stephen Farber said that there were high expectations for this film and "only some of them are realized." However, he does praise the ensemble, saying, "The cast works hard and brings off some antic moments, but too many of the riffs fall flat.

Saturday Night will be released in theaters on October 11.

Saturday Night Review Roundup

Vulture: There's another underlying truth here about the creative process: Sometimes, it feels like the whole world is against you. What's more, sometimes you have to imagine that the whole world is against you in order to get anything meaningful done.

Next Best Picture: Sometimes, it feels like a cop-out to say a movie is just “fun” and nothing more, but that is precisely the case here. Saturday Night a funny and well-acted piece of entertainment, best enjoyed on a Saturday night.

Rolling Stone: Saturday Night Live has long swooned over its own self-mythology, and Saturday Night is happy to add to that backpatting as the show’s golden anniversary approaches... At least the second-hand high Reitman hotboxes you with is extremely potent.

Slashfilm: Even acknowledging its shortcomings, Saturday Night is hands down spectacular, and it's easily one of the best movies of the year.

Variety: Miraculously, Reitman and casting director John Papsidera pull it off, such that everyone reflects the singular energy of their characters. You might not cast them in the biopic of any one individual, but as an ensemble, they’re terrific.