Movie · 2024 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 49m · R · English
Curator score: 4.5/10 (388.7K ratings)
The revolution begins at 11:30.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 4.5/10
IMDb: 6.9/10
Letterboxd: 3.47/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%
Metacritic: 60
TMDB: 6.7/10
Director
Jason Reitman
Production
Columbia Pictures, Right of Way Films, TSG Entertainment
Cast
Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O'Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Tommy Dewey, Cooper Hoffman, Nicholas Braun, Andrew Barth Feldman, Finn Wolfhard, Willem Dafoe, Stephen Badalamenti, Ellen Boscov, John Dinello, J.K. Simmons, Presley Coley
Where to watch
Netflix
Curator Review
Verdict
A brisk, behind-the-scenes ensemble comedy-drama with strong period energy and a fun sense of chaos, but it plays more like a well-cast scramble than a fully satisfying drama. It’s best if you enjoy showbiz process stories, rapid-fire backstage tension, and spotting future legends before they become legends.
Best for
fans of backstage entertainment industry stories
viewers who like ensemble comedies with historical flavor
people interested in the origins of Saturday Night Live
audiences who enjoy fast-moving, deadline-driven chaos
Skip if
you want a deep character study with emotional payoff
you’re not invested in comedy history or TV lore
you prefer broad, polished crowd-pleasers over jittery ensemble pieces
you dislike movies that feel more like a recreation of momentum than a fully shaped narrative
Overview
Saturday Night is built on velocity: a 90-minute countdown, a crowded control room, and the nervous electricity of people trying to launch something that feels impossible. Jason Reitman leans into the live-wire atmosphere, and the movie’s biggest asset is how convincingly it turns backstage panic into entertainment. The cast helps a lot, giving the film enough personality to keep the machinery moving even when the script feels more interested in reenactment than revelation.
Worth noting
What works best is the sense of a cultural moment taking shape in real time. The film has a playful, almost feverish confidence about the birth of a television institution, and it understands the appeal of watching ambitious young talent collide with ego, insecurity, and deadlines. It’s funny, energetic, and often very watchable, even when it’s more sketch of a moment than full portrait of the people in it.
Bottom line
Still, the movie can feel a little too eager to hit the highlights. It captures the chaos and the myth, but not always the deeper emotional stakes behind them. If you’re here for comedy-nerd adrenaline and a sharp period hangout, it delivers. If you want a richer dramatic arc, it may leave you admiring the reconstruction more than feeling it.
Top Letterboxd reviews
kspeier (3★) · 10134 likes
Insanely stacked with white boys of the month
Sophie Holsinger (2.5★) · 8086 likes
I liked it when they told us how much time was left in the movie
mac (3.5★) · 5965 likes
they should’ve made chevy chase more of an asshole
Reece (4★) · 5458 likes
i fear we may be entering a lorne michaels autumn
jeaba (3.5★) · 5196 likes
need a moment to think on this one because i’m not sure if i actually enjoyed it or if i just really like the cast
1998 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 43m · PG · Curator 9.4/10 (5.9M ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium
A smart, accessible pick about television, performance, and the construction of reality as spectacle.
Topics
backstage drama, ensemble comedy, period piece, 1970s, media industry, creative process, deadline tension, showbiz, biographical fiction, cultural history