150 Word Review: 'Saturday Night' (2024)
Live! From New York
I recently watched the 1992 backstage comedy Noises Off, starring Michael Caine as a fussy theater director herding actors. Will the show go on? Director/co-writer Jason Reitman's Saturday Night is also a chaotic backstage comedy but everyone knows that the TV show they put on becomes a legendary 70s smash.
The movie has energy and charm but lacks drama. NBC suits wants Lorne Michaels to fail, but guess what? As Michaels, Gabriel LaBelle is an anxious boy genius, a characterization that doesn't ring true.
Saturday Night is a respectful and sentimental portrait of SNL's founding fathers (and a few women.) So many celebrity impersonations, so many wigs. Belushi is a beast! But not funny? Ella Hunt glows as Gilda Radner, and Cory Michael Smith's Chevy Chase is a talented egomaniac. JK Simmons chews his scenes as Milton Berle, aka Mr. Television, a hack and a legend with sizeable genitals.