‘Saturday Night’ Seeks to Capture the Prelude to One of the Biggest Seventh Days of the Week of All Time

September 26, 2024

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I’m not Chevy Chase, and they’re not (CREDIT: Hopper Stone/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Ella Hunt, Dylan O’Brien, Emily Fairn, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Kim Matula, Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Kaia Gerber, Andrew Barth Feldman, Tommy Dewey, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J.K. Simmons, Jon Batiste, Naomi McPherson, Taylor Gray, Mcabe Gregg, Nicholas Podany, Billy Bryk, Ellen Boscov, Joe Chrest, Catherine Curtin, Leander Suleiman, Paul Rust, Robert Wuhl, Corinne Britti, Kirsty Woodward, Josh Brener, Brad Garrett

Director: Jason Reitman

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Rating: R for General Crudeness and Casual Backstage Drug Use, and One Unsolicited Private Release

Release Date: September 27, 2024 (Limited Theaters)/Expands October 4 and October 11

What’s It About?: As the prophet declared, “The show doesn’t go on because it’s ready, it goes on because it’s 11:30.” While that is a widely accepted maxim in 2024, a few decades ago it was met by the masses with an outpouring of skepticism. According to Saturday Night director Jason Reitman and his co-writer Gil Kenan’s telling, things were so touch-and-go that the first episode of Lorne Michaels’ brainchild barely made it to air in one piece. While the hour-and-a-half that began on the National Broadcasting Company at 11:30 PM Eastern on October 11, 1975 has since been immortalized, the hour-and-a-half that immediately preceded it was also apparently quite the transformative odyssey. And so, Saturday Night‘s log line is quite simple: the real-time chaos that led right up to the birth of one of the most famous TV shows of all time.

What Made an Impression?: Would You Accept a Wolverine in Place of the Truth?: Saturday Night is filled with an unending series of too-perfect coincidences that I don’t really have any interest in fact-checking (at least not in terms of whether or not they make for a worthwhile movie). Like, did John Belushi really refuse to sign his contract until approximately 15 minutes before the cameras started rolling? Surely that must have been sorted out days, if not weeks, earlier? I suppose it’s dramatically true enough, as Belushi was certainly known for being erratic. Some of these stunningly on-the-nose moments are kind of funny, like when Lorne has a sarcastic back-and-forth with a building employee who supposedly thinks that he’s producing Saturday night the night, as opposed to Saturday Night the TV show. But then there are similar incidents that I found myself groaning at, like Milton Berle lecturning everyone he encounters about the way that showbiz really works (although J.K. Simmons does play Uncle Miltie with the just right flavor of stunningly pompous).
Inescapable Iconography: It’s hard to imagine that Saturday Night will be anyone’s introduction to SNL. Even if you don’t watch every new episode like clockwork, you’ve surely encountered some of it through cultural osmosis. But save for a couple of semi-unavoidable bits, the movie mostly avoids the pitfall of simply recreating memes and catchphrases. Nevertheless, it isn’t like this is a completely untold story. The behind-the-scenes foibles have been recounted in numerous outlets on numerous occasions, and the characters are based on quite famous real people, many of whom are still alive. So it’s no surprise that some of these performances are mostly glorified impressions. To be fair, some of them are quite good impressions. Dylan O’Brien in particular captures the singularly rat-a-tat patter of Dan Aykroyd. Others have room to go a little deeper, especially Gabriel LaBelle in the lead, as he effectively captures the harried arrogance and earnestness of attempting to spark a revolution through television. But as good as LaBelle is, I can’t help but look at him and go, “That’s not Lorne Michaels.” It’s close, but not quite. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it is uncanny.
It’s Saturday Night, and You’re Not: I kind of wish that Saturday Night had gone the Weird biopic route, by maintaining some semblance of reality while obviously comedically exaggerating everything else. It certainly would have been in the spirit of a sketch show that has aired plenty of memorable parodies in its own right. Of course, it would be unfair to review it for not being something that it’s not trying to be. But it’s still fun to wonder, “What if?” As it is, we’ve got something that feels like cosplay populated by body snatchers. It’s energetic and loving cosplay, but the thrills are mostly theoretical rather than visceral.

Saturday Night is Recommended If You Like: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Really sticking it to the censors, Bricks

Grade: 3 out of 5 Affiliates

It Doesn’t Take a Conspiracy to Figure Out What Makes ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Tick

July 10, 2024

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To the moon, Scarlett! (CREDIT: Dan McFadden/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Jim Rash, Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Anna Garcia, Donald Elise Watkins, Noah Robbins, Colin Wooddell, Christian Zuber, Nick Dillenburg, Joe Chrest, Art Newkirk, Ashley Kings, Jonathan Orea Lopez, Eva Pilar, Chad Crowe, Will Jacobs, Melissa Litow, Lauren Revard, Jesse Mueller

Director: Greg Berlanti

Running Time: 132 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Language and a Few Cigarettes

Release Date: July 12, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: To quote a certain iconic fictional extraterrestrial family, “Astronauts to the moon? Ha ha ha ha.” A lot of Americans felt the same way in the buildup to the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. In the years since John F. Kennedy’s promise of a manned lunar landing, the team at NASA is just as enthusiastic as ever about blasting off into space, if a little frustrated over a series of setbacks. But the general public is much more restless, so shady government figure Moe Berkus (Woody Harrelson) hires advertising genius Kelly Jones (Scarlett Johansson) to fix the agency’s public image. She butts heads with the resolutely unflashy Cole Davis (Channing Tatum), who insists that the work should stand for itself. But that’s far from the biggest challenge, as Kelly is also tasked with shooting a fake moon landing as a backup in case they can’t get any usable footage from the real version.

What Made an Impression?: Don’t Worry!: Going into Fly Me to the Moon, I was more than a little concerned that this trifle of alterna-history was going to guilelessly perpetuate one of the most persistent conspiracy theories in American history. It looked clear enough to me that it wasn’t actually claiming that the moon landing was faked, but why play with fire? Fortunately, it ultimately pulls off the screwy trick of confirming that the landing was real while demonstrating how it could have been faked. I don’t expect the most resolutely conspiratorial among us to have their minds changed, but the message is nonetheless clear and on the side of the verified historical record.
Falling Madly in Love?: But what does it matter what’s even happening on the moon if we’re not falling in love back on Earth? Director Greg Berlanti and screenwriter Rose Gilroy certainly see things this way, as Fly Me to the Moon is really a throwback screwball workplace rom-com at heart. Weirdly enough, though, the main love story takes a lot of its cues from the decidedly un-screwball Mad Men, with Kelly serving as a distaff spin on Don Draper, right down to the invented identity backstory. The constant deception makes her romance with Cole much more agonizing than is typically advisable, although this whole routine is old hat for Johansson and Tatum at this point. However, I found myself more invested in the chemistry bubbling underneath the surface between Kelly’s second-in-command, defiantly feminist Ruby (Anna Garcia), and young and awkward NASA engineer Don (Noah Robbins, probably best known as Zach from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt). Overall, it adds up to a somewhat overlong, mostly pleasant diversion that also features bang-up supporting turns by a harried Jim Rash and a thoughtful Ray Romano.

Fly Me to the Moon is Recommended If You Like: Skinny ties, De-emphasizing Channing Tatum’s handsomeness, Playing the hits of the 60s

Grade: 3 out of 5 Rocket Cameras

Life Sure is Grave in the World of ‘Lisa Frankenstein’

February 7, 2024

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Frankly, my Lisa, I don’t give a Stein (CREDIT: Michele K. Short / © 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLC)

Starring: Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Joe Chrest, Carla Gugino

Director: Zelda Williams

Running Time: 101 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Violence and Sexuality That Could Easily Have Been R-Rated If the Most Intense Parts Didn’t Happen Off Screen

Release Date: February 9, 2024 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: It’s not easy being Lisa Swallows in 1989. For one thing, her mother was recently killed during a home invasion, and she appears to be the only one who’s actually been traumatized by that tragedy. Meanwhile, there are the more quotidian, but no less dramatic, struggles of being a teenage girl. Her dad Dale (Joe Chrest) has remarried a high-strung nightmare named Janet (Carla Gugino), which has forced Lisa to finish her senior year at a new high school. And since she’s an extremely mousy wallflower, she’s either ignored, insulted, or taken advantage of by her classmates. Her stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano) tries to look out for her, but there’s a vague sense of manipulation beneath the bonhomie. So Lisa spends much of her time at the local grave of a young man (Cole Sprouse) who died a bachelor long ago. And wouldn’t you know it, the power to reanimate the dead is in the air.

What Made an Impression?: Silence and Isolation: One of the most striking things about Lisa Frankenstein is its rather quiet sound mix, to the point that I wondered if there were any technical snafus while I was watching. But things are usually on the up-and-up at the screening room where I caught it, so I’m left to believe that this was in fact a creative choice. It’s at least thematically resonant, as Lisa never quite behaves the way that you would expect someone in her situation to. She’s lost in a suburban nowheresville in which nobody knows quite how to communicate with her, save for the resurrected creature hiding out in her closet. As for Sprouse’s turn as the monster, he’s clearly studied the likes of Boris Karloff and Peter Boyle, as he adapts their grunts and staggering gaits into an improbable heartthrob.
What Stays Buried: When I saw the trailer and read the premise for Lisa Frankenstein, I assumed it was going to be an adorably huggable gothic romance spin on Mary Shelley’s classic tale. But as it turns out, the Creature and Lisa have much more of an appetite for violence than I was expecting. Some whimsy tries to make itself felt, but it proves to be an odd match for Diablo Cody’s decidedly dark screenplay. This movie isn’t for the faint of heart, though I can imagine it being embraced by the latest generation of goths. Director Zelda Williams’ touch feels a little less than sure-handed in her feature debut, but the end result is unique enough that I don’t want to dismiss it entirely. There’s a reason why dark hearts like Lisa’s keep beating on the big screen, and while I’m not sure what her story means, I won’t be surprised if it’s embraced by a group of outcasts who locate some real resonance.

Lisa Frankenstein is Recommended If You Like: Edward Scissorhands and Heathers, especially the parts where people die

Grade: 3 out of 5 Graves