Saturday Night - Review (London Film Festival 2024)

Jack Aling
Oct 16, 2024
1 min read

Live from New York.

Review written by Jack Aling

Queer is directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes. Starring Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Jason Schwartzman & Lesley Manville.

Saturday Night is written and directed by Jason Reitman and co-written by Gil Kenan. Starring Gabriel LaBelle, Cooper Hoffman & Rachel Sennott.

At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever.

On October 11, 1975, 90 minutes before the very first Saturday Night went live, this film attempts to document the tumultuous lead-up, dropping the audience headfirst into the chaos.

A comedic pressure cooker, director Jason Reitman and writer Gil Kenanthe piece together the bedlam. The camera flies around Rockefeller Center's Studio 8H like a fly on the wall attempting to keep up with the dozens of cast and crew, all set to Jon Batiste's lively score, performed live on set.

The pace manages to keep up for the entire runtime with constant reminders of the ticking clock counting down to showtime. A huge ensemble cast portrays some of America's most notable comedic minds, led by Gabriel LaBelle as the infamous producer Lorne Michaels. The film does a great job of balancing screentime amongst the cast while keeping the intersecting stories easy to follow.

It will be interesting to see how the film performs when it gets its UK release in early 2025, as Saturday Night Live does not have the same cultural significance, holding onto relevance through viral online clips. But even without prior knowledge, Saturday Night is an entertaining and energetic history lesson in a pivotal moment in popular culture.