Jason Reitman really, really, REALLY wants to be Aaron Sorkin if the walk ‘n talk and jazzy energy of Saturday Night is any indication. But Reitman is a lot of things, but he’s not quite at Sorkin’s level and this occasionally overstrained flick proves it.

Saturday Night is about the runup to the first episode of Saturday Night Live back in 1975. It follows a young Lorne Michaels as he corrals his Not Ready for Prime Time cast, the NBC execs, union members, his guest host, and others in real-time leading up to 11:30 airtime.

My main takeaway from this movie is that SNL isn’t quite the gargantuan social and tv shift the movie thinks it is. The show has cultural importance and has been on the air for 50 years for a reason… but the idea they couldn’t wrap their minds around what kind of show it was 90 minutes to airtime seems ludicrous. It’s a comedy sketch show. Moving on, guys. Moving on.

Not to mention the flick never really explains WHY it needs to exist. It assumes the audience already knows that SNL is “important” and acts like airing the first episode is an atom bomb to pop culture. And, sure, maybe in its early early years that was so… I didn’t see the show until the mid 80s where it was well-established. And I watched it for decades after, through good and bad years. But I’m not confused by what the show was and the addoration of his movie was unconvincing.

Which is just me saying I was deeply skeptical (and cynical) about this whole movie’s worshipful tone. That said, I wasn’t bored and some of the actors did good jobs imitating Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Billy Crystal, and so forth. I’m less sure all these events occurred in the 90 minutes before air-time, but I guess that’s what makes it a movie and not a documentary.

I wished I liked this movie more and I wish it was more realistic about SNL… probably would have helped to actually explain why SNL matters and who all these people were. Also would have helped if it tried less hard to be an Aaron Sorkin joint (and I like Jason Reitman as a director).

Score: 76