Watchers Delight Weekly: Saturday Night Review

Over the weekend, Netflix released their new addition to the catalog, Saturday Night. Saturday Night takes us back to the very first episode of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Following the footsteps of legendary producer, Lorne Michaels, through the hectic prep for the first episode. This movie is good for you, if you are a film nerd, with special interests in show-running or if you are a SNL super-fan. Other than that, this movie misses the mark. I cannot recommend this movie because the plot feels half finished. The entire movie surrounds one night, with the conflict being if the show will make it to air or not. While it is entertaining to see how well Matt Wood played John Belushi or how much Cory Michael Smith looked like a young Chevy Chase, however, when the final scene ends, we hear for the first time in the entire movie, ”Live from New York” and you feel like the movie should be starting. You realize you spent 1 hour and 49 minutes watching a prologue.

Behind the scenes

Saturday Night is co-written and directed by Jason Reitman. Reitman is also know for films like Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Young Adult and Tully. Jason Reitman is also the son of Ivan Reitman, who made the first two Ghostbusters movies.

The other co-writer is Gil Kenan. Kenan has a resume of directed and writing for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Poltergeist, A Boy Called Christmas and Monster House.

Executive producer credits are split between JoAnn Perritano, known for A Quiet Place 2, and Erica Mills known for her work on Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.

How to Watch

Netflix- With Subscription

Prime Video, Youtube, Apple TV- with additional payment

Final Thoughts

Saturday Night is a nostalgic and hectic movie with a weak plot. I think this movie is a pass unless you are particularly interested in TV production or a big fan of early Saturday Night Live. We don't get to see the skits being written or the process at all after the first day. The directors seemed to rely on a chaotic setting to keep the audience interested, which does work well, but the audience never has any "stake" in the conflict of the movie.

PASS

Thank you for reading to this point!! If you wished to find a new show or movie, please check out our other WD WEEKLY posts where we have many other recommendations. Did we get "Saturday Night" all wrong? Let us know what you thought of the newly adopted movie to Netflix's platform in the comments. Sign up to our website for weekly email's letting you know what we posted throughout the week!