Saturday Night mild? Jason Reitman's SNL recreation doesn't quite match the original's rebellious spirit
Entertaining but safe backstage romp explores the lead up to the 1st Saturday Night Live broadcast
It's time to put on makeup
It's time to dress up right
It's time to get things started
Why don't you get things started?
Watching the backstage bedlam of Jason Reitman's Saturday Nightmade me think of TheMuppet Show.
And it's not because the film throws my beloved Jim Henson under the bus,portrayed here by Nicholas Braunas a prudish hippie getting pranked by the Saturday Night Livestaff.
It's becausetheentire conceit of Saturday Night, which showsus the 90 minutes before the first episode goes to air, plays like a live-action version of The Muppet Show,complete with special guest stars (a disgruntled George Carlin) and a plethora of subplots:Is Chevy Chase's ego too big for the cast? Will John Belushi sign his contract?
Not to mention Lorne Michaelsthe Kermit of this analogy, waving his arms frantically in the airthe Canadian comedic wunderkindtrying to convince NBC to risk 90 minutes of air time ona group of unknowns.
The film isthe latest from director Jason Reitman,son of director Ivan Reitman, whoburst onto the scene with zippy caustic comedies such as Up in the Air and Juno. Oscar bait for voters, those moviesannounced Reitman as an exciting new Hollywood auteur.
But in the past few years he has disengaged with the present in favour of an extendedspelunking of nostalgia, from his Gary Hart movie The Front Runner, to his reanimation of his father's Ghostbusters franchise, directing Ghostbusters: Afterlife and executive producing Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.
90 minutes to show time
Sticking firmly to the past,Saturday Night is a ticking clockof a film set in real timeonOct.11, 1975,during the last 90 minutes before the show goes live for the first time.
The network is embodied by Willem Dafoe as NBC's head of talent, Dave Tebet.Costumed in a sharp suit and spectacles,Tebet's shallow smilesuggeststhere's little faithin the experiment.There's already a tape of a Tonight Showrerun cued up ifMichaels fails.
Reitman and co-writer Gil Kenan illustrate the changing of the guard with J.K. Simmons appearing as Milton Berle, a relic from the so-called golden age of television when millions would tune in to watch Uncle Miltie.
Simmons is in high camp here, one moment doingthe cha-cha withchorusgirls, the nextmarking his territory by whipping out his legendary schlongfor shock effect.
Not that this version of SNL is genteel.If anything, what Reitman and the cast channel is a gonzo sort of energy. The backstage at studio 8H, with its serious summer camp vibe, is a realmof barely contained chaos.
Recreatingthe cast
Indeed, one of the most successful aspects of Saturday Night is theinspired casting that uses a great mix of modern emerging talents to portraythe fresh faces who wouldsoon become famous.
Cory Michael Smith's version of Chevy Chase vibrates with ambition and arrogance.Nicholas Podany's Billy Crystal is sexy, smart and sad.Ella Hunt as the singular Gilda Radner has just a few moments, but channels a playful spark. Dylan O'Brien's Dan Aykroyd is goofy and endearingly awkward. Tommy Dewey as head writer Michael O'Donoghue is a sharp-tongued assassin.
Lamorne Morris makes a meal out his part as Garrett Morris (no relation), the classically trained singerfrustrated as the token Black member of the cast.
AndShiva Baby'sRachel Sennottappears as Rosie Shuster, Michaels' wifeand co-writer. While the state of their relationship appears nebulous, Sennott brings a game screwball energy to the part.
But the biggest bump when it comes to this portrait of SNL in its infancy is Canadian actor GabrielLaBelle as Michaels.
Throughouthis decades behind the scenes atSaturday Night Live,many things have been said about Lorne Michaels, but no one is neutral when itcomes to his long-running reign.Some celebrate his genius and ability to surfthe zeitgeist, while others see him as afickle and mercurial ruler whoplaysfavourites.
But the Lorne Michaels we meet in Reitman's version is a twinkle-eyed optimist withcamp counsellor energy.It's hard to see LaBelle as the kind of guy who could contain the chaos of SNL, nevermind make the tough decisions to get iton air.But in the film, Michaelsexudesan unshakable sense of confidence, perhaps because we know how it ends.
And here we come to the Achillesheel of Reitman's film.
When Saturday Night Live first burst onto television, it was a revolutionary leap into the unknown, as America in '75 was at a turning point.Michaelshad worked on Laugh-Inandwritten jokes for Phyllis Diller. Hehadseen the stultified way TV comedies were made andassembled a group of improv anarchists to try something new.
What's missing among all of Reitman's camera choreographythat follows the cast as workers literally build the stage brick by brick(!), isthesense of danger.
There is no risk in Saturday Night. It's amuseum piece acarefully constructed recreation topolishthe myth of the man who started it all.
Entertaining? Undoubtedly.But it doesn't feel revolutionary.Just inevitable.
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