Saturday Night

This was probably more fun to make than it was to watch, but I still had a mostly solid time. It's moderately enjoyable, but never quite as funny or intense as it could've been. I felt torn between a 3/5 or a 3.5/5, but I'm just a bit too disappointed for the latter.

I don't think Paul Thomas Anderson would make a movie like this nowadays, but he probably would've done a better job with the ensemble cast and creating a sense of constant momentum. Maybe the Safdie Brothers too, or just one Safdie brother. As it stands, Saturday Night is solidly funny and sometimes comes close to nail-biting, but it just lacks a bit of oomph when it comes to the writing and how it looks.

Due to the pacing and the huge cast, most actors here don't tend to do more than impressions of famous people, and, to their credit, they were generally good impressions. It's only disappointing that the cast didn't get to do more than just impersonate.

I also can't help but wonder if the story would've been more exciting had they taken the real-time approach to showing the taping of the show, rather than the 90 minutes right before it went to air. The film does little to persuade me the shooting would've gone any smoother than the hectic lead-up, so I can't help but feel it was a missed opportunity.

There was the chance for something amazing here, but it never really coalesced into something more than pretty solid. I don't regret spending time and money watching this, but can't help wishing I liked it a good deal more.