Matt Wood (of SPONGEBOB on Broadway) starring as John Belushi in SATURDAY NIGHT

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/13/24 at 9:32pm

I saw Jason Reitman's film SATURDAY NIGHT (which is about the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode of SNL) and was incredibly impressed by the actor, Matt Wood, who plays John Belushi and has an interesting arc throughout the film.

So afterwards I start googling.

And I was thrilled to learn that he appeared on Broadway in SPONGEBOB, and on tour as Augustus Gloop in CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY!

A great talent. Matt Wood feels like a guy who's going to break out in a major way after this movie. (There are a lot of people in this who are going to break out, I think.) And hopefully he'll return to the theatre too.

As for the movie itself:  SATURDAY NIGHT is worth your time in theaters or when it's eventually streaming! It's a real "let's put on a show" movie about the tensions and challenges of putting on a live performance. Reminded me a bit of Aaron Sorkin's STEVE JOBS (but not quite as good). Lots of other stage folks in it too: Andrew Barth Feldman, Tracy Letts, JK Simmons as Milton Berle, Willem Dafoe, Robert Wuhl, Cory Michael Smith (of the ill-fated BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S play), and others.

Updated On: 10/14/24 at 09:32 PM

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 10/14/24 at 5:33am

Saw the film and though it was a decent watch, it sadly didn’t meet the hype. The way they emphasized the actors portraying the Not Ready For Prime Time Players you expected their roles to be featured heavily - they are not. Many are expecting the film to be the backstory to the original cast of SNL and its origins - it is not. It’s basically (as mentioned above) Lorne Michaels’ hurdles jumping during the final 90 minutes leading up to the live 11:30pm show. A large chunk of the film is this annoying “recognized this person?” as the camera floats by. The Milton Berle/Chevy Chase moment was indeed a highlight and the actors playing Chevy Chase and Dan Ackroyd were spot on fantastic, sadly their characters are just fun moments with zero development. I mentally kept zoning in and out after a few minutes but will say, the film does come around during its final moments. I’ve been watching SNL since its debut on NBC in 1975 and continue to watch it weekly so its history and backstory is all too well known by me. It would have been cool seeing its origin backstory told on film. Bummed this film wasn’t that.