Tuesday Night | February 25, 2025

Tonight’s film is called “Saturday Night”. You can watch it on Netflix or rent it elsewhere.

See what we thought below.

It probably goes without saying, but any movie that stars Willem Dafoe is inherently more likely to be worth your time. Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” is no exception, although the rest of the ensemble cast more than holds their own with the legendary performer.

The film follows Lorne Michaels, the creator of Saturday Night Live, in the 90 minutes preceding the first episode of the show on October 11, 1975.

Before we dive in further, it’s worth mentioning that “Saturday Night” attempts to capture an inarguably historic moment in American television. A moment of legend, really. To date, SNL has aired nearly 1,000 episodes and is in its 50th year of production. The show itself has received 84 Primetime Emmy Awards, 6 Writers Guild of America Awards, and 3 Peabody Awards. The first episode was dripping with explosive comedic personalities, from George Carlin to Andy Kaufman to original cast members Chevy Chase and John Belushi. The film easily could have felt like a flat, endless parade of celebrity impressions.

Instead, Reitman delivers a cocaine-fueled, anxiety-inducing tour of the studio, accentuated by an antsy camera and a snappy score. He lands a hysterical showcase of every reason why the show was unlikely to make it to air. He bottles up the spirit 1970’s counter culture comedy with a run-time of under two hours without getting preachy.

Just like Lorne Michaels’ legendary show of the same name, “Saturday Night” succeeds despite the long list of reasons that could have, or maybe should have, prevented it from doing so.