Movie Review: Late Night

Late Night *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Nisha Ganatra.

Written by: Mindy Kaling.

Starring: Emma Thompson (Katherine Newbury), Mindy Kaling (Molly Patel), John Lithgow (Walter Lovell),

Hugh Dancy (Charlie Fain), Reid Scott (Tom Campbell), Denis O'Hare (Brad), Max Casella (Burditt), Paul Walter Hauser (Mancuso), John Early (Reynolds), Luke Slattery (Hayes Campbell), Ike Barinholtz (Daniel Tennant), Marc Kudisch (Billy Kastner), Amy Ryan (Caroline Morton), Megalyn Echikunwoke (Robin), Blake DeLong (McCary), Jia Patel (Parvati), Annaleigh Ashford (Mimi Mismatch), Halston Sage (Zoe Martlin).

 

Mindy Kaling is undeniably funny and charming. As a writer, she is in love with romantic comedies, and also knows precisely the role to write for herself, as a performer. Her work has always been about inclusion, but in a smart, funny way. She has also used her love of romantic comedies in a smart way as well – knowing its limitations, and while giving the audience what they want and expect, twisting it just enough to make it more meaningful. Late Night is her latest offering – a comedy set in an alternate world in which a woman – Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) has had a long running, late night network talk show since the early 1990s. The show is on its last legs – Newbury seems to have checked out years ago, and it isn’t until the threat of cancelation looms over her that she decides to care again. One of things Newbury does is decide that she needs to hire a woman writer – her staff is all men, and she barely interacts with them. In steps in Molly Patel (Kaling) – who is undeniably unqualified for the role (she worked in a chemical plant before getting the job) – but she’s also smart, driven and funny.

 

Late Night isn’t really a romantic comedy – and yet, in many ways it is structured like one. The central relationship though isn’t romantic – it’s between Katherine and Molly, and its professional. And yet, the relationship goes through all the same steps as you would expect in a romantic comedy – right down to the finale, which reminded me a lot of the finale of Pretty Woman. It’s a smart twist on the genre.

 

The performances by the two leads – and the excellent supporting cast – are all on point. Thompson, of course, has shown she can practically do anything, and here she is very funny and charming, but also brings an undercurrent of sadness, fatigue and bitterness. Her role is not unlike Meryl Streep’s in The Devil Wears Prada – except that in Late Night, she is given humanity throughout, and not just a few moments here and there. It is a genuinely great performance. As for Kaling, well, she wrote it – and knows precisely how to write for herself, and does so wonderfully here. As a performer, her Molly is funny and charming – a touch awkward, but also incredibly driven and competent. The rest of the cast isn’t given as much to do – but they are so well cast, that they make something of their characters anyway – especially John Lithgow as Katherine older husband, who brings genuine emotion to his role.

 

As a film, Late Night is on rails – you know what’s going to happen from the beginning, and yet getting there is still fun. The biggest problem with the film is probably that the Late Night comedy itself just isn’t very convincing. The film is better when it’s showing how Katherine and her staff is simply sleepwalking through the show at the beginning – but less so when come out of it, and start really cooking. It’s not quite Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip level bad comedy, but it’s not as far away as you would like. Part of that could be the genre itself – the standard issue late night comedy has never felt fresh to be in my lifetime, and has never been more stale than it is right now. Nothing that I saw in this movie would make me actually want to watch Katherine Newbury’s show in any format.

 

I’m also not quite sure that the films take on #MeToo is quite convincing – it kind of feels shoehorned in here, and the gender swapped nature of it, although addressed, is not adequately handled. I can only imagine that if a man in this environment came out and said what Katherine does by way of explanation, that he wouldn’t be embraced they way she is. He probably wouldn’t lose his job – but few do – but he wouldn’t be celebrated either.

 

Still, those problems aside, when Late Night works – and it mostly works – it is funny and charming – with two fine performances at its core. I kind of want to see Kaling stretch herself a little bit more as a performer – but at the same time, there are so few women with such a distinct comic personality that have been able to make a career for herself this way, it’s seems petty to complain (I’d like to see Seth Rogen stretch himself as well – but no one else seems to ever bring that up). Late Night hardly reinvents the wheel here – but what it does, it does well, and packages it all in a charming way.