Director: Morgan Neville
Cast: Lorne Michaels
Have I Seen It Before: Well, that’s the real trick. Between all of the documentaries launched for the show’s 50th anniversary last year, to say nothing of his almost-hagiographic depiction in Saturday Night (2024), all the way to the recent semi-comprehensive biography, I feel like I’ve seen quite a bit from Lorne over the last couple of years.
Did I Like It: But do I know him any better? The film confronts the question of whether or not one can know the mastermind behind Saturday Night Live, and eventually lands on the answer that one probably can’t, truly, but that there might be something there to know.
Landing somewhere in the middle of such a question in the middle of a documentary, but the failure to launch is presented entertainingly enough—largely via comedic half guesses by the people who might be in a position to know—that the film is not a bad experience. The film goes a step further when—in trying to fill in gaps—depict Michaels not as a talking head, but the Robert Smigel animated curmudgeon who chased after errant dogs at the top of TV Funhouse cartoons. The entire film seems geared to the crowd who grew up with Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, and less the ones who were coming of age when Michaels tried to re-unite the Beatles on the show.
What’s more, Neville manages to avoid the pitfalls of Saturday Night and doesn’t turn Michaels into some kind of plucky hero dancing to the beat of his own drum. The failures, prejudices, and the ever-increasing awareness of time passing permeate the proceedings. Losing Norm McDonald at Michaels’ nadir in the 1990s is re-litigated. His finger was best on the pulse of America when our parents were younger than we are now. And, ultimately, Michaels someone who withholds what he’s thinking, right up until the moment he either fires or hires you. In that sense, the film does reflect its subject.