Saturday Night: La noche que cambió la comedia

Presented to us as occurring in "real time" as the hour and a half long movie counts down the last 90 minutes before the first episode of "Saturday Night Live" (then called "Saturday Night") went live on air. We are invited to witness and get dragged along backstage as we enter the chaos of this hollywood-magic version of the start of a legendary TV show.

Long time fans of SNL will enjoy spotting the many, many easter egg references to SNL's most-famous and beloved sketches, the majority of which would not have been present and ready before this first showing.

The pace and action are frenetic as disaster after disaster happen while the hundreds of tiny little gears required to make something like SNL all try to come together in some form which will work and produce a viable show by the time the curtain raises.

The character actors chosen to mimic the first cast are spot on and do a great job really embodying what are undoubtedly huge shoes to fill. They are extremely fun to watch and carry the majority of the film with great humor.

But I fear Lorne Michaels was miscast or poorly written, because as our main focus of this maelstrom of frustratingly inept administration, he largely devolved into an amateurish and annoying little twit we keep waiting an waiting and waiting to see rise to the occasion, and never truly does.

He can barely share his vision of the show with mealy-mouthed human words and wanders around from fire to fire, never actually putting any out and immediately forgetting them as he toddles on to the next.

When the first show is pulled off, it's largely because everyone else had been carrying on without him and made it work in spite of him.

I also just irrationally hate his face and the little look he gets when anything goes wrong; it's like an overwhelmed, pissed off toddler is smelling something bad.

This film is a fun bit of nostalgic fantasy homage. A visit from the spirit of SNL past. But it definitely is NOT a biopic recreation of what actually happened, and should not be viewed as such.

This is a film largely for the fans, and other viewers will find it hit or miss, and will most likely find themselves googling the mentioned sketches afterwards.

I enjoyed Saturday Night, but not as much as I hoped. It was a little repetitive that Lorne Michaels was having so many problems on the show. There were good laughs and convincing performances of all the main characters/actors we watched, but there could've been a little more to it then the final 2 hours or so before the show aired it's first episode. I would've liked to know where Lorne Michaels had the idea of Saturday Night Live and what he produced before. It was mostly entertaining with good laughs, but kind of claustrophobic being in a sound stage almost always with a few scenes outdoors.

This movie depicts the run up to the first performance of Saturday Night Live. The run up is shown as chaotic, frenzied, and disorganized, with no final list or ordering of sketches and the set still under construction. Creator/Director Lorne Michaels darts frantically between the cast, crew, writers, network executives, and special guests. All the frantic activity becomes tiring, but the 139-minute movie still manages to drag in a few places.

I wasn't there, but several events depicted seem to be of dubious historical accuracy, such as when Michaels wanders out of the building shortly before showtime. This makes me wonder if the chaos was created by the screenwriter and the director.

The most enjoyable part of the movie was watching the portrayals of the original cast members, although the portrayals of John Belushi and Chevy Chase seem exaggerated. Being familiar (or becoming familiar in advance) with the original cast members is helpful for getting the most out of Saturday Night. Overall, the movie is entertaining and occasionally funny but falls short of the high bar set by the original production.

This year, 2025, Saturday Night Live turns 50. I remember clearly what I was doing in 1975, with a promotion and new job, but with kids in the house watching SNL was not a priority. Did I see that first episode in 1975? I don't remember but probably not.

This movie runs just over 90 minutes and it examines the final 90 minutes leading up to the very first live telecast. In essence the movie follows a similar time line of the initial episode.

I found the whole thing fascinating, a live comedy show like this had never been done. Down the halls and backstage rehearsals were still going on as the minutes ticked by. The "schedule" was a series of notes tacked onto a cork board. Not everyone there was sure they would actually go on. Acts that had prepared for 5 minutes were asked, right before the show, to cut them down to 3 or even 2 minutes. What is depicted here was chaos and the show runner was even being encouraged, right up to the last minute, to postpone it for a week to be better prepared. He didn't.

Now I suspect some, maybe much, of the content of this movie was either fictionalized or at least exaggerated for purposes of entertainment. In fact some of the original cast have spoken out in recent days, saying that things were running much smoother than the movie purports.

Regardless, I found it to be totally entertaining. I watched it on DVD from my public library. My wife skipped.

This is the hardest review ever for myself because I don't completely know how to feel about this film. If you didn't grow up watching SNL or know nothing about the OG cast or how SNL was started you're going to be incredibly confused, lost and bored. I think that's the issue I have with this movie is you have to essentially know who everyone is from the beginning of SNL. Tons of name dropping and names and no back stories, if you go in wanting to watch a movie that will explain it to you... this isn't it and you will most likely walk out. So it really puts the category of viewers quite small. I grew up watching SNL (but in the Sandler, Farley, Spade, Farrell era). If it wasn't for my dad being obsessed with older beginning SNL and always having it on I would have hated this. My husband grew up on MadTV and even though some big names like Belushi, Chevy chase, Dan Aykroyd from movies growing up he had no clue who anyone else was. We had to come home and watch the first episode and I had to explain a ton of things he wasn't picking up on. Like the relationship with Lorne and his wife and the connection with Aykroyd there. Most people wouldn't have a clue though.

I will say the casting is INCREDIBLE, I did laugh at some parts although I think it had potential to be a bit funnier. It's not wildly inaccurate at all like some people say. Most of the things were true just some didn't happen THAT night.

The actors did absolutely amazing, and the 70s vibe and filming style was great. It really felt like you were immersed. I did feel a bit stressed out, I don't even drink and I left thinking "I need a drink, I feel like I just had an exhausting day at work".

I do recommend watching the very first episode ever prior to going if you haven't seen it in awhile. They absolutely nail some scenes it's uncanny.

Sadly I think this movie will bomb, but they really did a poor job making it watchable for anyone who is now considered "boomer" age or close to. Many people in that category no longer are watching movies in theaters much, passed away or are now stuck in their Jesus ways they'll be offended at things they probably weren't in 1975. Obviously some people in that category will love it but I would guess that may be far and few between.

You might enjoy it if you also do research on the beginning of SNL first and know what they all looked like but that's a lot of work to ask of viewers.

I don't recommend seeing it in theaters if you even think you might be lost, you will be. I honestly think even myself if I watched it from home I would have got distracted. My husband and I were the only ones in the theatre not a single other person and I caught him scrolling on his phone a couple times. I have never seen him do that in a movie before so I know he was bored.

So idk I give it 10/10 for casting and acting and doing great capturing the era. 7/10 because I'm one of the few people under the age of 50 who knew the history. But if I was a regular person just watching a movie for fun I would have given it a 2/10.