Movie review: 'Saturday Night' a compelling 'SNL' behind-the-scenes romp

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Saturday Night , in theaters now, makes the behind-the-scenes production of Saturday Night Live as entertaining as the show itself, arguably more so than some of their seasons.

A combination of authentic production issues and artistic license creates calculated dramatic stakes.

At 10 p.m. on Oct. 11, 1975, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) struggles to produce the pilot episode of SNL . For 90 minutes, the film follows Michaels putting out fires with the cast, executives and various departments including writers, wardrobe and lighting.

Director Jason Reitman immediately stages crises with a sense of frantic anxiety as a cacophony of sounds demands Michaels' attention, often drowning out the dialogue itself.

The camera follows Michaels in uninterrupted takes as familiar props like Land Shark and costumes like the bee suits are wheeled by behind him.

Other scenes cut rapidly between locations as the crew practices to accomplish scene transitions during commercial breaks, producers figure out what to cut to trim the show to 90 minutes and Lorne watches helplessly as executives trigger cast egos.

Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith ) already sees himself as the breakout star and clashes with John Belushi (Matt Wood), who himself doesn't want to just be an ornament in a bee costume. Garrett Morris (Lamorne Morris) wants more lines.

Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) defuses emergencies with humor and supports cast members like Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn), who feels left out. The conflicts showcase both the variety of issues involved with any production and the nuances required to solve them.

The frenetic night pauses occasionally for big moments of dialogue, such as an argument between head writer Michael O'Donaghue (Tommy Dewey) and standards and practices censor Joan Carbunkle (Catherine Curtin), or tender moments between cast members.

Making everything happen in one night, let alone 90 minutes, surely requires some fudging of events. Some outrageous incidents, like laying the bricks in the stage half an hour before showtime, are in fact true.

The last-minute hiring of writer Alan Zweibel (Josh Brener) is embellished and Milton Berle ( J.K. Simmons ) was not there on Oct. 11 by all accounts, but they contribute to an energetic dramatization.

Whether or not Michaels really had to convince Belushi to shave his beard the night of the show, it highlights the sensitivity with which he had to handle performers. Shaving becomes as important as getting Belushi to sign his contract before airtime, which was true.

The question of "What is the show?" keeps coming up, often asked of Michaels by producer Dick Ebersol (Cooper Hoffman). That becomes a bit blatant because we get it, they're still finding the show.

By the time the film reaches 11:30, you want to see this cast perform the first episode of Saturday Night Live . Alas, that's not the film and we got snippets of famous sketches in rehearsals.

Saturday Night Live fans are sure to recognize many of the legends of the show's history. Saturday Night does a good job of satisfying aficionados while also explaining to anyone why it's so hard to produce anything that requires multiple artists cooperating.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.