 While not quite being of age to be able to appreciate the original cast of 'SNL,' I do still have fond memories of staying up late in the early 90s to catch it in my generations prime. This was when lost, but great comedic talents like Chris Farley, Norm MacDonald and Phil Hartman were involved, and, I daresay, where a lot of us got our idea of what adult humour is while still in our youths. But none of it would have ever been possible if the show never made it off the ground in the first place, and that's what this is about.
To be more specific, it's about the tension and pressure of the show's air date on October 11, 1975, the chaos leading up to the 11:30 time slot, and the behind the scenes drama that occurred. At the heart of it is producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), who is simply trying to follow his vision through, dealing with all sorts of stress just hours before airtime, as he tries to pull it all together. And while that's the main story, it also deals with varying drama involving the actors and crew, most of which is exaggerated, or even partly made up for dramatic effect, so a lot of this is to be taken with a grain of salt. From what I've read about what did and did not actually happen that night, it seems clear that while liberties were taken, the purpose of it all was to relay to the viewer just how intense the spirit of everything felt. One may also take this as an example of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story, but I would strongly suggest not taking certain things here too seriously, and zero in on character personalities as opposed to sheer accuracy, as that seems to be more the point of the film. As far as said personalities go, Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith), Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien) and John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Garrit Morris (Lamorne Morris) seem to be the main focuses. They respectively deal with inflated ego, Lorne's open-relationship with Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott), a drug problem causing violent mood swings, and questioning why they're on set in the first place. In the meantime, the ladies, Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) Laraine Newman (Emily Fairn) and Jane Curtin (Kim Matula) seem to just try to have fun. More big names pop up here, portraying a bit more of a cameo appearance, including host George Carlin (Matthew Rhys), big-shot Milton Berle (J.K. Simmons), and perhaps funniest throughout the movie, the one-two punch of Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson (both Nicholas Braun) who add a lot of lightheartedness to the otherwise stress-inducing night. Braun plays them both so innocently, one can't help but giggle whenever they pop up. Kaufman gets himself lost in the NBC building, and Henson has to deal with his Muppets getting made fun of. By the way, for as much as I laughed at most of what happens to Henson here, let it be known that the man is still a personal hero of mine, I love the Muppets, and it's wonderful to know that after all of this, he moved on to bigger and better things. But the way they make his character an equivalent to someone like Butters from 'South Park' makes for a lot of laughs, as he's a very PG-style man in a very R-rated atmosphere. Equally as funny is the censor Joan Carbunkle (Catherine Curtin), often mislead as to what certain phrases mean. When its put all together, it does make for some pretty good, if intense storytelling. But it will leave the viewer questioning its accuracy, and I would again stress not to take things too seriously here. There are various lists out there one can look up to answer their questions about what really happened that night. It's an interesting bit of film, nevertheless, and may very well encourage one to try to find that first episode to watch right after the movie, keeping all of that tension (which was very real, despite certain moments perhaps not being fully real) in mind. 3/5
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