7 Movies to Watch After Saturday Night

As the saying goes, “There’s no business like show business.” And as the much lesser known saying goes, “The business of putting on a comedy show is a lot less fun than you would imagine.” Okay, maybe that last one isn’t a real saying, but you get the idea. Saturday Night tells the complicated story of the first ever broadcast of Saturday Night Live in 1975. While the show was designed to draw laughs and bring joy, tensions and anxiety run at a dangerously high level as an upstart producer, Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), and a group of young comedians and writers prepare for the start of the show. Spoiler alert: although the show was met with its fair share of blunders and near-catastrophic meltdowns, it would eventually go on to become one of the longest-running TV shows of all-time.

Despite its shaky start, Saturday Night Live will go down as one of the most iconic television shows in history, and Saturday Night paints a compelling portrait as to why (even if it is sometimes the cringiest thing in show business). Getting a bunch of eccentric comedians under one roof is one thing. Getting those comedians to work well together is a whole other issue. Written and directed by Jason Reitman, Saturday Night is a tense ride that gives us a backstage look into the inner workings of late-night TV and a chance to see some of our favorite comedians in perhaps a different light. Highlighted by terrific performances from Dylan O’Brien as Dan Aykroyd and Matt Wood as the incomparable John Belushi, Saturday Night is well worth the addition to your list on Netflix. But if you’re looking to watch movies that share a similar vibe as Saturday Night, then you’re in lucka, because chaos and dysfunction are a couple of businesses that are always booming.

Frost/Nixon

While this film is the furthest thing possible from a comedy, it really hammers home the point that getting the job done means everything to some people. Frost/Nixon tells the story of Richard Nixon (Frank Langella), who is still picking up the pieces of his once-successful life. Set in 1977, the movie takes place just three years after the Watergate scandal that turned Nixon into an international laughingstock and ended his presidency. Feeling the pressure to mend his tattered reputation, he selects British TV personality David Frost (Michael Sheen) to conduct a one-on-one, exclusive interview. And while each man enters the interview with a different goal in mind, it soon becomes clear that they are each playing the same game.

Frost/Nixon may be less flashy than Saturday Night, but both films portray the endless stress that comes with trying to put on a good show. Similar to Lorne Michaels, David Frost was a motivated person chasing after a dream. And while they each had the cards stacked against them, their tenacity was able to help them push through any obstacle in their way to achieving their goals. Frost/Nixon is a gripping drama that doesn’t need explosive set pieces to capture your attention. The film is a stripped-down character study of one of the most important interviews in TV history.

You can stream Frost/Nixon on Max.

Network

“You will atone!” As one of the most influential movies in cinematic history, Network is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. Even if you haven’t seen Network before, you have likely felt its influence on other works. Network tells the story of veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), who discovers that he’s being forced to retire, and as you can imagine, he isn’t too thrilled about it. However, after threatening to shoot himself and spewing an angry and unhinged rant on live TV, Howard becomes a hit once again, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for his network. His performance encourages ambitious TV producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) to come up with off-the-wall programming with the hopes of catching lightning in a bottle twice.

Directed by Sidney Lumet, Network may be a parody of life at a television network, but if you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was a prophetic message. You gotta do what you gotta do, and for everyone at the USB network, they do whatever it takes to make it big, even if that means selling their soul and betraying who they really are. Network is a high-stakes satire on the emotional and physiological toll that television can have on people. As Howard says in the film, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

You can rent Network on Fandango at Home.

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Money Monster

The show must go on, even if a gun-toting madman is threatening your life. Directed by Jodie Foster, Money Monster is another example of characters willing to do whatever it takes to finish the job they set out to complete. The film tells the story of Lee Gates (George Clooney), a Wall Street guru who picks hot stocks as a loudmouth host of the television show “Money Monster.” But Lee soon finds out that some monsters are scarier than others. During a live broadcast, disgruntled investor Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) storms onto the set and takes Lee hostage, placing an explosive device on him. Kyle pleads to Lee that he has lost everything on one of Lee’s famous tips. As the situation builds, a team behind the scenes works together to end the standoff before Lee is killed on camera.

With a 59% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, Money Monster wasn’t exactly a favorite among most critics. Despite the poor reviews, the film raked in nearly $100 million at the worldwide box office. As an underrated thriller, Money Monster is as tense as Saturday Night while offering up some impressive performances from both Clooney and O’Connell. Money Monster was made in 2016, which already feels like a lifetime ago, but the theme of money trouble is a tale that will always be relevant. Although the film follows a somewhat predictable track, it is a fun ride that is worth a watch.

You can rent Money Monster on Amazon Prime.

Birdman

How far would you go to achieve your lifelong dream? For former superhero actor Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton), being taken seriously as a real actor is the most important thing to him in his entire life. To achieve his goal, he is writing, directing, and producing an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will breathe new life into his stagnant life. However, like most things in life, things don’t go so smoothly for Riggan and his production. As opening night approaches, a castmate is injured in a freak accident on stage, forcing Riggan to hire Mike Shiner (Edward Norton), a brilliant yet troubled actor who is guaranteed to shake things up. In addition to the stress of creating his own Broadway show, Riggan also must deal with a never-ending voice in his head that has it out for him.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman is a free-flowing experience that echoes the sentiments of the play that Riggan is desperately trying to get off the ground. Riggan just wants to be loved by not only the critics, but also his family who doesn’t quite understand how depressed he really is. Birdman is a film that never hits the brakes and never thinks about going easy on each of its characters. Like Saturday Night, Birdman is also a film about artists attempting to get a show made. But behind the scenes, the show should be the least of their concerns. Somebody should tell Riggan that it is still possible for superhero actors to win Oscars.

You can rent Birdman on Apple TV.

Nightcrawler

In Saturday Night, we’ve seen how hard it is to even get on the air. But how hard is it to not only make your way to the top, but to stay there? Nightcrawler follows the increasingly dangerous exploits of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a man who gets by in life by scavenging and scamming people on his way to profit. But when he stumbles into the world of freelance news videography, he descends into a nocturnal nightmare across Los Angeles in search of shocking and grisly crimes that he hopes will be newsworthy. When Lou develops a budding relationship with veteran news director Nina (Rene Russo), the pair lose track of their humanity in an effort to constantly increase their network’s ratings and achieve greatness.

Nightcrawler is the type of film that can really make you appreciate the craft of a particular actor. In this case, it’s Jake Gyllenhaal, who is mesmerizing as Lou Bloom. While he has always been an outstanding actor who has poured his heart and soul into roles, his turn as Lou is on a whole other level. His transformation into a sociopathic and power-hungry videographer is as jaw-dropping as it is eye-opening. While Lou is an exaggerated caricature of a heartless man with a camera, the film offers up a poignant warning on the dangers of blind obsession that goes well beyond determination.

You can stream Nightcrawler on Starz.

Wayne’s World

Often regarded as the best movie based on an SNL sketch, Wayne’s World is king, although that isn’t exactly saying a lot. Some of the best SNL skits never managed to make their way to the big screen for one reason or another, like how the Debbie Downer movie never happened. Wayne’s World is a fun and lighthearted comedy that is hard not to like. It follows the trials and tribulations of Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth (Dana Carvey), two small-time rockers who are having a blast filming their cable access TV show in Wayne’s parent’s basement. That all changes when they find themselves on the highway to success after they sell the rights to their show to slimy television producer Benjamin Cane (Rob Lowe). While seeing their show turn into a properly funded project, Wayne and Garth soon learn that Cane doesn’t exactly have the same vision for the show as they do.

In February 1989, Saturday Night Live aired its first-ever Wayne’s World skit. Just three years later, that little skit would snowball into a critical and financial success, earning over $120 million at the box office. While SNL has struggled to find success at the box office since then, Wayne’s World proved that the sketch comedy show was not only good enough to produce star-worthy cast members, but create skits with legitimate staying power. If not for the hard work of Lorne Michaels and the rest of the original SNL team in 1975, Wayne’s World would never have had a chance to make its mark on pop culture.

You can rent Wayne’s World on Apple TV.

The Blues Brothers

Although Wayne’s World holds the top spot as the best SNL movie, The Blues Brothers is certainly a close second. Not only is it the first-ever movie that spawned from a skit on the show, but it is the perfect showcase for John Belushi to prove that there was nobody quite like him when it comes to his brand of comedy. The Blues Brothers follows Jake (Belushi) as he reunites with his brother, Elwood (Dan Aykroyd) following Jake’s time in prison. Although fresh out of the slammer, Jake’s first task is to save the orphanage that the brothers grew up in from closing by raising $5,000 in order to pay back taxes that the orphanage owes. The two brothers hatch a plan to earn the money by getting their old band back together, but their plan goes sideways when they make a few enemies along the way.

As seen in Saturday Night, Belushi had a tremendous gift as a performer, but was possibly even more gifted at finding himself in trouble. While his career was tragically cut short by his untimely death, Belushi not only left his mark on The Blue Brothers, but the entirety of SNL as well. Outside of Chris Farley, there hasn’t been a cast member who’s been able to maintain the energy and comedic force that Belushi offered. So while his talent is center stage in The Blue Brothers, it’s almost impossible to wonder what could have been had he enjoyed a long career.

You can stream The Blues Brothers on Amazon Prime.