Saturday Night Live is just one year away from its 50th anniversary, and here comes Jason Reitman with a rowdy, profane-filled film adaptation of the show’s debut. Reitman is intimately connected to SNL thanks to his father, Ivan Reitman, so there is this strong feeling that no one else could take on such a massive project like Saturday Night,with its various moving parts. But the film fails to answer one crucial question: Why does this exist?

Saturday Night’s Recreation Of History Is Fun (But Leaves A Lot To Be Desired)

Full disclosure: I have never been the biggest fan of SNL, but it’s through no fault of its own. However, the show has significant power, and I recognize many cultural moments despite not being fully immersed in its lore. Saturday Night taps into the origins, and luckily for it, the ensemble and crew from the show’s beginnings have stood the test of time, so when Lamorne Morris steps onto the scene as Garret Morris (no blood relation), there is a thrill that shoots down my spine.

It is stunning how well Reitman and casting director John Papsidera do with casting the iconic faces of SNL. If anything is gained from this endeavor, watching these actors tap into iconic roles is fun; even the cast who play non-SNL cast members are in on the joke, and no matter how little screen time they get, they have an impact.

Saturday Night
‘s most egregious mistake is the lack of genuine laughs.

Saturday Night’s foremost issue is its failure to recognize that the people pretending to be other people shtick only works for the actual sketch show — at least under these circumstances. The show’s central draw is the exaggerated, trope-heavy clowning of political leaders, pop-culture icons, and celebrities.

The film has us follow actors who play SNL alums earnestly and sincerely, but that isn’t interesting enough because these particular real-life people are larger than life and so singular in their purpose. No biopic treatment will satisfy the hunger of seeing them in action. To be fair, this isn’t a traditional biopic by any means, but the conventional biopic tropes are on full display.

Imitation Of Funny People Doesn’t Make For A Fun Time

Jason Reitman has so much reverence and love for Lorne Michaels and the show, but the immense effort he puts into recreating the chaos behind the scenes could have been put towards a documentary recounting these events. Archival footage, interviews, and maybe recreations with this young cast would have been infinitely more entertaining. Saturday Night creates an artificial wall between us and the reality that the people who made SNL a cultural touchstone are not just characters — they are flesh and blood who made something great even though the odds were against them.

It is no secret that the current state of the show is dire. In the past, the jokes were funnier, and the ensembles had more singular identities and personas among them. Reitman does well to single out the key players from 1975 that shaped the show and comedy as a whole, but as Saturday Night carries on, frustration grows.

We are not seeing these people as they were. Instead, we are watching the film’s cast as they try to capture lightning in a bottle through imitation. Sadly, all this effort feels wasted when the film itself isn’t actually funny. There are so few laugh-out-loud moments that it seems like an utter waste to have such good casting. I like these actors, but despite being talented and, at times, nailing the imitation, it’s never enough.

Funny Left The Building

Capturing the near-disaster that was the debut of Saturday Night Live is a good move for a film, but Reitman (and much of Hollywood) forgets that narrative films aren’t the only vehicle for exploring a culture-shifting moment. There is more joy to be had with archival footage of John Belushi and Gilda Radner than watching Matt Woods and Ella Hunt pretending to be them. Saturday Night’s most egregious mistake is the lack of genuine laughs. In the case of these two performances, specifically, these icons are reduced to caricatures with limited screen time. What comedy is derived from that?

There are a few chuckles here and there, but for the most part, there is an unshakable feeling of annoyance as Saturday Night moves briskly. Reitman successfully gets the visuals, and it’s like being transported to 1975 and the backstage catastrophe leading to SNL’s debut. We feel as lost and bewildered as the naysayers, doubting Lorne Michaels and his cast of young clowns. Nothing feels serious, yet everything is at stake. Reitman draws out the frustration, the kinetic energy, and the vibrancy of this time and space. However, he doesn’t capture any of the fun.

Ultimately, Reitman mismanaged the expectations for a movie about Saturday Night Live’s debut. He is hung up on showing us how this debut came to be rather than establishing the people who made the series a cultural phenomenon. To do that, he would have had to develop characters and give some iconic figures more screen time. I will revert to my original argument: This particular narrative is a sound idea but for a documentary instead.

Saturday Night premiered at the Telluride Film Festival before screening at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is 109 minutes long and rated R for language throughout, sexual references, some drug use and brief graphic nudity.