Saturday Night — 2/5
There's an excitement running through the thing, a constant threat that something good might happen. But there's a paper thin line separating anxiety from excitement, and only in the last 15m does it finally cross over into the latter. For the rest of the movie, it's just an Aaron Sorkin riff, and friends, Aaron Sorkin isn't funny. And despite what the movie wants to do, when we tune in to watch a movie about the first episode of Saturday Night Live, we expect there to be humor. But, you know, real life, and too many people are miserable dicks (though at least some of the impressions were notable). I think the movie's main mistake is placing the narrative burden atop the shoulders of Lorne Michaels. As much as he plays himself as mysterious, I think it's just a cover for how less interesting he is than the world around him. His smarts, and his success, is recognizing that he isn't the star. I think Garrett Morris would have been a more interesting focal point; someone who didn't belong, but was there, watching the chaos unfold and figuring out what part they played in it.
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