Last night I treated myself to a movie that wasn’t from Disney/Pixar/MCU. It was a good old fashioned, based-on-true-events story of a young man and his dream to put on a ground-breaking show.
A little show you may have heard of, Saturday Night Live (SNL). Here is the trailer:
As is the case with most people I know, my love for SNL ebbs and flows with the different casts, but in general, I’d say I’m a fan.
I really enjoyed this movie! Not because it got everything right…it didn’t. What they depict as taking place during the 90 minutes leading up to the first SNL taping in 1975, was actually a series of events that happened over many nights—over many years even—leading up to many tapings, but stitched into a frenetically-paced anxiety-inducing 90-minute countdown race to the end.
So +1 for the pace!
There was a lot of fan service paid for those who know some of the more famous early sketches. There were sketches mentioned or alluded to that had nothing to do with that first night, but whatever…we’ve got to give the fans what they want, right?
So -1 for accuracy…but who cares! This isn’t a documentary.
Where this film really shines is in the casting and performances. This cast is a MONSTER. Perhaps not with big names, but with great performances!
Gabriel Labelle (The Fablemans) as Lorne Michaels looked great in the part and did an admirable job carrying the the movie. His impression of Lorne was subtle enough to not be too distracting. He captured Lorne’s growing anxiety as 11:30pm quickly approached perfectly!
Ella Hunt (Dickinson) looked great as Gilda Radner, but unfortunately wasn’t really given much to do.
It took me a bit to figure out who was playing Dick Ebersol—he looked so damned familiar—then I realized it was Cooper Hoffman, son of Philip Seymour Hoffman and let me tell you, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree! He was also great in Licorice Pizza.
In the few scenes she was given, Kim Matula (Tapawingo) did a great job as Jane Curtin.
Honourable mention goes to Nicolas Podany (Hello Tomorrow!) who nailed his role as a young insecure Billy Krystal.
I thought Lamorne Morris (New Girl) did a great job as Garrett Morris. He made the most of his big scene. Certainly a far cry from those BMO Commercials.
I don’t know a lot about Rosie Shuster, played by Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby), only that she was once married to Lorne Michaels, so I can’t say whether Rachel did a good job of embodying her, but I thought she was good in the role.
Nicholas Braun (Succession) was an inspired choice pulling double duty, first as Andy Kaufman, and even more impressively as Muppet-Master Jim Henson. Look out for this guy! I know he isn’t new, but man, I’m really going to have to reconsider his performance in Succession, he’s impressive!
But I really think the three stand-out performances in this film belonged to…
Matt Wood (Law & Order: SVU), and if you’re asking yourself, “Who?” then you’re not alone, but it seems Matt was born to play John Belushi.
Dylan O-Brien (The Maze Runner) as Dan Aykroyd seemed like a mismatch on the surface, but then he spoke and suddenly, I couldn’t unsee a young Dan Aykroyd. Such a great impersonation!
But please hold all applause until you’ve seen what—in my humble opinion—is the best performance/impersonation in this film…
I had to look up where I had seen Corey Michael Smith before and I found it! He played Edward Nygma, AKA, The Riddler in Gotham. I remember enjoying his performance, but it doesn’t hold a candle to Corey’s Chevy Chase in this film. It was uncanny! I know remakes aren’t about the actors, but if they ever wanted to reboot the Fletch film series, they could do worse than Corey. At the very least cast him in a Chevy Chase biopic!
I know, I know, that is one HUGE ensemble cast and there are so many others I didn’t mention, like:
- Tommy Dewey (Casual) as Michael O’Donoghue,
- Taylor Gray (Star Wars: Rebels) as Al Franken,
- Jon Batiste (Soul) as Billy Preston,
- Brian Welch (Space Cowboys) as Don Pardo,
- Paul Rust (Inglorious Basterds) as Paul Shaffer was a little on-the-nose,
- Matthew Rhys (The Americans) brilliantly as George Carlin.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!
As if that wasn’t enough, why not add a most memorable cameo by Oscar-winner J.K. MFing Simmons (Whiplash, plus any good movie in the last 20 years) playing Milton Berle in a scene in which he unleashes little ‘Uncle Miltie’.
Did I mention Willem Dafoe (Poor Things) is in it? I didn’t? Ah…well he is.
Is the story perfect? No, but who cares? It’s worth it just to watch this amazing cast chewing up scene after scene. As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t a documentary. I think director Jason Reitman did a great job capturing the spirit and energy that has made SNL a staple on NBC for the past 50 years.
Needless to say, if you’re an SNL fan, I recommend you check out this film. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
What are you thinking?