SATURDAY NIGHT

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Dylan O’Brien, Lamorne Morris, J.K. Simmons, Willem Dafoe, Nicholas Braun, Ella Hunt, Emily Fairn, Kim Matula, Tommy Dewey

Nearly fifty years ago Saturday Night Live forever changed the art of sketch comedy. The new film Saturday Night takes us backstage in the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode. Gabriel LaBelle played a young Steven Spielberg in The Fabelmans and is now playing a young Lorne Michaels who is in far over his head as he dares to put on a sketch comedy series that’s different than anything else on NBC. It’s 10:00 PM, and Lorne is frantically running around the hallways surrounding Studio 8H, as he’s trying to put the final touches on the first episode. It’s an absolute mess with dress rehearsal running three hours, lighting equipment falling on actors and causing a fire on set, and the exes at NBC hoping he fails. Cory Michael Smith plays Chevy Chase who we see antagonizing John Belushi (Wood). We also find Lorne struggling with his relationship with wife Rosie Shuster (Sennott). She happens to be a writer on the series but is also falling for Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O’Brien). The clock is ticking as to whether Saturday Night will go live or if NBC will air reruns of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In theaters

Here’s my review