Saturday Night

This movie is very much a hidden gem. Shot in 2008, screened at SXSW in 2010, it didn’t see a full release until 2014 on Hulu. As far as I know, it never reached much of a broad audience. I think that’s a shame since it provides an entirely unique perspective on one of modern America’s genuine cultural institutions: Saturday Night Live.

Saturday Night Live (SNL) functions on a weekly cycle. Guests arrive, ideas are pitched, scripts are written and jokes are tried. Some make it to dress rehearsal. Even fewer make it to air. While plenty of ink and celluloid has been spilt on this process, rarely is it about that cycle as a whole. Books on SNL usually capture the vibe of an era, based on a particular cast or head writer, and provide anecdotes about the people who worked there during that time. SNL’s own behind the scenes shorts cover various “hidden” departments such as hair, makeup, set construction, effects, and music, but always about their role within the larger SNL machine. Saturday Night offers something different. It covers one whole week, from guest arrival on Monday to cast bows on Saturday, from inside Studio 8H.

Part of what makes this experience work is that the movie is directed by James Franco. Franco had been a guest earlier the year the piece was shot. This gave him many advantages as the man behind the camera. It is clear from some of the interview footage that he has a good rapport with the cast. He also has an insider’s knowledge of the process from his time as a host and comes at the topic from the point of view of a fellow performer, something that would not necessarily be true of a pure documentarian. I think this helped everyone relax despite the presence of the documentary crew. The result is something that feels remarkably intimate. The piece is reminiscent of cinema verite, as if the camera just happens to be another person in the room.

This feeling is reinforced by the look of the movie, as well. The genesis of the movie was, in fact, a student film for a filmmaking Masters Degree from NYU. As a result, everything looks as if it was shot on cheap digital cameras, likely because it was. Similar to Clerks, this actually works to the project’s advantage. It imbues the movie with a sense that what you are watching is something bootlegged or stolen, something you weren’t supposed to see.

For the most part, its origins as a student film are not readily apparent. However, there are a few moments where an amateurishness to the directorial choices does come through. For example, there are several extended interviews with Bill Hader that are basically prompting Hader to do various bits that crack Franco up. These are completely off-topic for the documentary. While the rest of the film has a precise focus on the SNL process, Hader doing impressions for Franco is not in service of this end as they aren’t related to new sketch ideas. Don’t get me wrong, the bits are funny, they are just a sideshow that feel tangential to the point of the movie.

To make matters worse, one of these bits is actually muted because it is done to the music of Prince and Saturday Night’s producers were not able to secure the rights. In perhaps the most damning mistake of the editing process, this bit was left in with a disclaimer for why the audio is gone rather than simply being cut completely. The mistake is then compounded by the fact that this disclaimer has a tone that is intended to capture a punkish charm but instead merely comes across as wildly unprofessional.

Lastly, all documentaries have to make choices about what they want to put their focus on, and with Saturday Night that means some notable omissions. This doesn’t take away from the movie much, if at all, but if you are a great fan of this era of SNL it is worth knowing that some things are surprisingly absent.

We get a decent glimpse at the process of writers like John Mulaney and Seth Meyers and performers like Fred Armisen and the aforementioned Bill Hader. However, because the piece uses the guest host as a focal point for the show development process, the movie offers no insight into the production of digital shorts by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone (aka Lonely Island) even though they were changing the face of the show at the time, because that week the digital short didn’t feature the host. Similarly, the movie chooses to focus on Casey Wilson as a way to capture the experience of a first year performer and what that unique struggle is like. However, the result is next to no time spent on the other female performers of that cast, including superstars Kristen Wiig and Amy Poehler, who was in her final season.

Ironically, Lorne Michaels, the legend behind SNL since its inception, tells Franco that the subjects of his documentary are all performers who can’t help but be hyper aware of the camera at all times. However, the movie we get is one that offers an amazingly insightful, intimate, and often hilarious look at what actually goes into the making of SNL, from all night writing sessions to bombing at the table read so hard you laugh to stop yourself from crying. Sure, maybe everyone is on their best behavior knowing that the cameras are there, but as far as I’m concerned that doesn’t matter. I don’t need the movie to be a cutting exposé that drops truth bombs about the dark side of comedy. It is enough to just see Mulaney and Hader riffing on some half baked idea about a manager that promotes the inanimate objects in his office over his human employees.

Would Recommend: If you are a fan of Saturday Night Live and are interested in how the sausage is made.

Would Not Recommend: If you are looking for an exposé that digs up dirt rather than an observation that reveals creative process.