Genius tends to just sort of…happen.

With Lorne from director Morgan Neville we get yet another effortless portrait on the pop culture doc machine that this filmmaker has set up so well.  It plays the hits while giving us a little bit of insight to the man while still maintaining a little bit of enigmatic intrigue to its subject.

Lorne is an unprecedented, behind-the-scenes glimpse at the man who built the inimitable empire of comedy, shaping television and culture for generations. The documentary features exclusive footage, archival treasures, and candid interviews with the show’s most iconic cast members and writers including Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock and many more.

For a portrait of a man who changed the landscape of late night comedy and invariably the entire composition of modern pop culture as we know, Lorne is surprisingly reserved much like it’s subject.

There would be the misconception that the man who launched a myriad of careers in comedy would want to be more out in front, but the story of Lorne is one of a man who wants to elevate the talent around him rather than celebrate himself and in the modern Hollywood landscape that’s actually an admirable thing.

Director Morgan Neville obviously has a long track record at making these kinds of films and to be quite honest he’s at the point where he can output these movies like they were coming off an assembly line.

Given uncanny levels of access to the not only the inner workings of the show that he made famous Saturday Night Live but to the inner workings of the man himself, Neville allows the film to play the greatest hits of the man’s life (along with a couple of low points) in concert with the week to week mechanisms of producing a live Variety show many times a year; something which in this day and age is somewhat unpresented.

Through interviews with cast, crew, close friends and more importantly Lorne himself, we see a man who while having navigated the highs and lows of the insane world of TV production tends to play things close to the vest, which is kind of the way he likes it.  Genius is never meant to be an open book, those people who change the game are supposed to keep us guessing because usually that’s the way they like it.

While it really doesn’t get too far below the surface of what we already know about Lorne Michaels; Lorne is a deft little portrait of a pop culture icon that reminds us that while we’d love to pick their brain and dissect every little move that brought them to where they are, sometimes it’s important for us as viewers just to lay out a little bit and let someone who has been near the top of his game for fifty or so years, to just cook like only he can so that we can all just enjoy the show, especially every Saturday Night at 11:30PM.