Saturday Night Live recap and review: Natalie Portman with musical guest Dua Lipa

Natalie Portman is back hosting Saturday Night Live, and the episode was one everyone is going to be talking about. especially with musical guest Dua Lipa.

This week’s Saturday Night Live was just fine. Why? Because most of the sketches weren’t great at all but then there were some that were so good it balanced out the bad. Basically, we got a new Natalie Rap and a revival of her Jackie O performance so what’s not to love?

Natalie Portman hosted with musical guest Dua Lipa.

Prepare for quite the ride.

Cold Open

Okay, maybe this was a disaster. There is a weird camera flip and everyone had trouble with cues but the entire cold open seemed a bit off. That isn’t really what you want at the start of the show, because this is the first taste of what we’re getting tongiht.

That being said, the bits about Donald Trump’s State of the Union address as well as his eating habits was pretty spot on. If only they could figure out the camera work and reading cue cards accordingly.

Monologue

The Olympics are coming, so Natalie’s monologue represented that, meaning they had announcers tearing apart every choice she made. From her short program to the main portion of her monologue (where Leslie Jones talked about going to the Winter Olympics), everything was criticized.

Honestly, it was pretty fun, especially since most of the monologues recently have been all about singing and dancing. It was a nice change.

Revolutionary War

Boston and Philadelphia have a long history of fighting for being the best. Well, at least they do when it comes to football. But in 1775, they just fight about battles they won and go back and forth about who is better.

Honestly it is very much how everything leading up to the Super Bowl is going right now. The two cities are just expressing why their team is better. But the best part of the entire sketch? Rachel Dratch and Tina Fey coming back to defend their hometowns.

Stranger Things 3

Eleven meets a lot of the other experiments, and most of their powers are terrible. There’s literally a guy whose brain bleeds while he’s cooking chili. It was an easy joke, since Natalie and Millie Bobby Brown look alike, but it didn’t really have any shinning moments.

I think the problem is that they wanted to jump at the chance to make the comparison, and it didn’t work.

Natalie’s 2nd Rap

It’s back and it is incredible and everything we wanted and more. But don’t take my word for it, just watch and beg the Internet to make GIFs of every moment because there has never been a more perfect call back.

Dua Lipa

If you didn’t know Dua Lipa beforehand, you’ll want to know her now. Her performances were catchy, fun, and definitely made me want to look into her work a lot more. Again, it was one of those moments when you really need to see her performance.

She’s a great singer and it just seems like a lot of fun. So if all her songs are this way, she’s an artist you don’t want to miss.

Weekend Update

From French actresses explaining their stance on the #MeToo movement to Colin Jost making a pretty great joke about Jesus, this was a pretty good Weekend Update. Even if they have Tina Fey there and didn’t have her come and sit at the desk.

I mean, it was pretty fun. It’s Jost and Che going through their normal banter and really hitting all their marks. There wasn’t really a low point and everything was pretty spot on, which may have felt that way since a lot of the sketches weren’t hitting.

Alien Lover

Did you ever want to watch a sketch where Beck Bennett clenches his buttcheeks for 2 minutes? Well, that’s pretty much what this sketch was. When an alien’s butt is his face and his face is his butt, finding love can be a little hard.

So he falls in love with the captain and eventually learns that it is too much for her. No worries though, she kisses his face butt before she leaves so there is always going to be a GIF of Natalie Portman kissing Beck’s butt.

Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards Orange Carpet

Ever think about what would happen if one of the hosts of an award show suddenly lost their voice? No? Well, neither did I but this sketch exists and is fine, so at least we have it. The best part was when Kate McKinnon came in dressed as Ellen, and that was pretty much the only good part.

Basically, a host can’t talk on the red carpet and tries different ways to get through the orange carpet segment of the show. From scaring the kids to just talking on the inhale, it just doesn’t work.

First Lady

Okay so I can’t really tell you anything that happened in this. I’m pretty sure they were trying to explain to Melania Trump what she had to do but the minute I saw Natalie Portman dressed as Jackie, I didn’t care anymore. I was in love.

Natalie Portman’s Jackie O performance was still one of my favorites and to see her bring back the former First Lady made for a great sketch that had a lot of great performances.

Bunny

Women are too picky anymore, right? Well, that’s what this sketch was saying. To a degree so it wasn’t the best but also it had Aidy Bryant playing this weird character who loved to catfish men and then invite them back to her home.

Overall? The show was just okay. There were only a few good sketches but it is okay because we’ll be using the GIFs from the Natalie Rap for quite sometime.

Next: Saturday Night Live recap and review: Will Ferrell with musical guest Chris Stapleton

Check back here on Culturess every week for our reviews and news on Saturday Night Live.