With “Saturday Night,” director Jason Reitman deftly captures the magic and madness that went into creating the first episode of the beloved and long-running late-night series, “Saturday Night Live” — which kicks off its 50th season on Sept. 28.
Reitman, who co-wrote the film with Gil Kenan, knows the adrenaline rush of getting a sketch (not a skit) to air on the show firsthand; he once spent a week as a writer on “SNL.” This may be why his film anxiously and lovingly depicts the process of a group of unknown young comics — led by the fearless, visionary and beleaguered producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) — to go live on October 11, 1975.
