Dakota Johnson made her second appearance as host of Saturday Night Live on Jan. 27, with musical guest, Justin Timberlake. Saturday was Timberlake’s 11th time being on the show and sixth as a solo musical guest.
Johnson is best known for her role as Anastasia in the romantic drama film, “Fifty Shades of Grey.” She last hosted SNL in 2015 when the film was released.
After a SNL debut that was labeled as “an iffy-to-bad debut hosting appearance” by Entertainment Weekly, Johnson was eager to perform better this time around.
The show opened with an entertaining Cold Open about the upcoming NFL Conference Championship games, and then, it gets right into Johnson’s monologue. She discussed her SNL 40th Anniversary Special debut and joked about how long it’s been since then. She also briefly discussed her new film, “Madame Web.”
The show started slow with a lackluster “Waiters” skit where Johnson and Sarah Sherman struggle to remember the orders for a group of five. The skit was extremely repetitive and felt like a last-minute throw in to an otherwise pretty good show.
My personal favorite skit, “Home Videos,” was up next. In the skit, Mikey Day and Chloe Fineman play the parents of Andrew Dismukes. The family sits down to watch some of their old home videos and stumble across one labeled, “Big Announcement.” James Austin Johnson plays a Jerry Springer-type role, as Day and Fineman argue about whether or not Day is the father of her six-month old child in a hilarious reenactment of what the old show used to be like.
One of my other favorites was “Please Don’t Destroy’s- Roast.” Johnson, Martin Herlihy, Ben Marshall and John Higgins exchange lighthearted blows that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
Timberlake’s performances of his new songs “Sanctified” and “Selfish” were just okay. Both songs were slow, and neither seemed to fit the upbeat vibe that the show had.
SNL continues on Feb. 3, with star of “The Bear” Ayo Edebiri hosting her SNL debut, while Jeniffer Lopez will make her fourth appearance as a musical guest, after previously hosting three times.
