‘Saturday Night’ review: Skimming the surface of the very first ‘SNL’

Making a movie about famous funny people: super hard. Audiences spend half the time watching it performing stupid checklist tricks in their minds. (Is the nose right? Did that really happen? Wasn’t the real person taller? Sexier? More talented?) It’s no way to give any docudrama, or docu-comedy, a fair shake.

Backstage stories about those famous funny people: even harder. Capturing the personalities and the vibe behind the fingers-crossed launch of an extraordinarily influential TV phenomenon has ...