There’s finally a good Saturday Night Live movie and it’s about SNL being a nightmare

The trailer for the upcoming Saturday Night Live biopic is finally here, and it’s got all the makings of a modern classic. 

The upcoming Saturday Night is a biographical comedy that explores the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the creation of Saturday Night Live all the way back in 1975. Directed by Jason Reitman, the new movie‘s first trailer has already been released to an overall positive reception. 

The Saturday Night trailer boasts an all-star cast, all playing some of the greatest comedians of the era. Gabriel LaBelle leads the cast as SNL creator Lorne Michaels. The film’s title is a nod to the series’ original name. It wouldn’t be called Saturday Night Live until its second season as another NBC program already used that name.

The film is set on the night of the first episode of Saturday Night and follows the chaos that comes from a group of young and untested comedians attempting to make a live sketch show for a major network.

Fans in the comments are praising not just the tone of the first Saturday Night trailer, but the casting.

One YouTube comment reads “The Chevy Chase actor is spot on,” while a second agrees “an I point how perfect Cory Michael Smith looks as a young Chevy Chase? It’s uncanny.”

“Jason Reitman is easily one of the best directors out there in my opinion and a really cool guy. I can’t wait for this as a SNL fan,” a third weighed in.

The cast includes all of the original Not Ready For Primetime Players, including Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Cory Micheal Smith as Chevy Chase, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Emily Fairn as Laraine Newman, Kim Matula as Jane Curtain, Tommy Dewey as Michael O’Donoghue, and Matt Wood as John Belushi.

Nicholas Braun also appears in the trailer as Jim Henson, whose Muppets characters appeared in early SNL episodes. Braun will also appear in the film as Andy Kaufman.

The Saturday Night trailer also gives us our first look at Willem Dafoe as NBC executive David Tebet and J.K. Simmons as Milton Berle, who was infamously banned from the show after he guest-hosted in 1979. Finn Wolfhard also appears in the film as an unnamed NBC Page. 

If the film does live up to fan expectations, it could change the perception of SNL at the box office. For decades SNL was seemingly box office poison, as multiple films based on the show’s most iconic sketches tanked. 

While there are a few all-time greats, like The Blues Brothers, Wayne’s World, and Coneheads, films like It’s Pat, The Ladies Man, and Blues Brothers 2000 regularly populate lists of the worst movies ever made. 

Saturday Night will be released in theaters on October 11, 2024, which is also the 49th anniversary of the first Saturday Night Live broadcast. Until then, check out our lists of the best movies of 2024, the best TV shows of 2024, and all of the new movies streaming this month.