Saturday Night

"The revolution begins at 11:30."

2024 1h 49m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 410

ComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. This is the story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.

“The revolution begins at 11:30.”

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Cast

Gabriel LaBelle
Lorne Michaels
Rachel Sennott
Rosie Shuster
Cory Michael Smith
Chevy Chase
Ella Hunt
Gilda Radner
Dylan O'Brien
Dan Aykroyd
Emily Fairn
Laraine Newman
Matt Wood
John Belushi
Lamorne Morris
Garrett Morris

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jason Reitman
Writers: Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 40% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

233+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jason Reitman, shot by Eric Steelberg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jon Batiste. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Nathan Orloff shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gabriel LaBelle and Rachel Sennott and Cory Michael Smith carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The revolution begins at 11:30.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jason Reitman directs. Eric Steelberg behind the camera. Jon Batiste scores. Nathan Orloff cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 40% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 2 years ago.
3233+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Jason Reitman, shot by Eric Steelberg. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Jon Batiste. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Nathan Orloff shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Gabriel LaBelle and Rachel Sennott and Cory Michael Smith carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The revolution begins at 11:30.".
9IMDB entry: tt27657135 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 16 themes, including "new york city", "chaos", "1970s", "biography".

The technical file

Cinematography: Eric Steelberg
Original score: Jon Batiste
Editing: Nathan Orloff
Production design: Jess Gonchor
Costume design: Danny Glicker
Makeup / hair: Sophie Ashworth
VFX supervisor: Christian Wood
Sound: Will Files
Stunt coordinator: Monique Ganderton
Runtime: 109 min · 1h 49m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $25,000,000
Box office: $10,055,029
Return: 40% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Saturday Night (2024)

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Jason Reitman

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What people are saying

Manuel São Bento2024-10-12
★ 7/10
FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://talkingfilms.net/saturday-night-review-capturing-the-chaos-and-magic-of-snls-first-broadcast/ "Saturday Night successfully captures the frenetic energy and spontaneous magic of the behind-the-scenes world of SNL, transporting us to the heart of the organized chaos of a live broadcast. Through engaging camera work and fast-paced editing, Jason Reitman and his team recreate the palpable nervousness and unique humor that shaped an iconic show. It's a celebration of the talents who came together to create one of the most enduring, influential phenomena in television history. An irresistible tribute to all who dared to dream big, even when success seemed unlikely." Rating: B+
CinemaSerf2025-02-05
★ 6/10
I think my problem with this was that I remember seeing that opening sketch not long after it was aired in 1975 and it wasn’t funny. That’s kind of what I felt about this whole thing as it in real-time takes us through the ninety minutes before transmission of its creative producer Lorne Michaels (Gabrielle Labelle). The show is nowhere near ready to go, with three hours worth of content slated to fill ninety minutes. His lead talent - George Carlin (Matthew Rhys) thinks the whole thing is rubbish, and John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Chevy Chase (Corey Michael Smith) can’t stand the sight of each other. Meantime, network boss Dave Tebet (Willem Defoe) if menacing about the place with one of those totally supportive faces a football manager gets before he’s fired and the presence of Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun), a llama and a pile of bricks doesn’t leave us with much hope it’ll ever make the air, either. What ensues may well have been the very messy, caesarean, birth of an American institution but for those of us elsewhere in the world, this humour is passé and LaBelle’s passing resemblance to Dudley Moore seems to further intensify just how desperate this nation was to get past the scrupulous thought police (Catherine Curtin) who thought a golden shower was something from a Disney movie. It’s designed to bring together just about every form of innovative comedy, and a very extended version of Janis Ian singing “At Seventeen”, to signal a new direction for late night television but that doesn’t make this either particularly entertaining or enlightening. It’s worth a watch, but if this show isn’t already a part of your psyche, then it’s unlikely this effort will change that.