Movie Review: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood **** / *****

Directed by: Marielle Heller.

Written by: Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster.

Starring: Matthew Rhys (Lloyd Vogel), Tom Hanks (Fred Rogers), Christine Lahti (Ellen), Wendy Makkena (Dorothy), Chris Cooper (Jerry Vogel), Enrico Colantoni (Bill Isler), Susan Kelechi Watson (Andrea Vogel), Tammy Blanchard (Lorraine), Maddie Corman (Lady Aberlin), Kevin L. Johnson (Darin Scharf), Maryann Plunkett (Joanne Rogers).

 

It undeniably would have been easier to make a typical biopic of Mr. Rogers – one that makes you feel good about yourself and the world as you leave the theater. Whether or not the release of the wonderful documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor last year either inspired this film, or changed the plans for this film, I think it undeniably helped it – almost anyone interested in this film, probably watched that one, so a lot of that background information is already out of the way. What that allows A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood to do is treat Mr. Rogers as a supporting character – and a strange one at that. He was undeniably a good person – and a force for good in the world. But the film also recognizes that he could be kind of creepy. There is something unnatural about him – his constant calm and good cheer, and during the course of the film, his kind of polite refusal to answer questions he doesn’t want – he simply glides over them like he doesn’t want to answer them. Mark Harris on Twitter said the film reminded him of The Silence of the Lambs – and as odd as that sounds, it’s also accurate. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a feel good movie – but it isn’t the cloying kind that you may expect it to be. It brings Mr. Rogers into the real world.

 

The main character in the film is Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) – an Esquire reporter circa 1998, who is assigned to write a blurb about Mr. Rogers for the “Hero” issue – even though he normally does hard hitting news, and sees this kind of puff piece as beneath him. Still, he does his job – and heads to Pittsburgh to interview Mr. Rogers. Vogel is a cynic – his mother died years ago, and he’s barely had any contact with his father (Chris Cooper) since – and for good reason. He does love his wife, Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson) and newborn son though – and perhaps that makes him a little more open than he would normally be to Mr. Rogers. When he first meets him, and sees him film his show, he responds the way a cynic would – trying to figure out if Mr. Rogers is on the level or not. No one can be this kind, this patient, this caring – can he?

 

Tom Hanks was the perfect, perhaps only, choice to play Mr. Rogers. Hanks has done some of the most interesting work of his career in recent years – but this time, America’s Dad playing Mr. Rogers is quite simply great. But Hanks doesn’t settle for a mere impression, or even making Mr. Rogers just unbelievably nice and charming. There are times in the film where you will likely respond to Hanks’ Rogers much like Vogel does – with an exasperated sigh or an eye roll. Vogel is trying to get the person underneath the surface – and Rogers defiantly does not want to show that person. Still, Hanks does a good job of showing that yes, there is a person under there – that Mr. Rogers isn’t a saint, but a person – just one who, when with others, exercised complete control over himself. It’s is a fascinating and complex performance – and one of Hanks very best.

 

The film was directed by Marielle Heller, who has quickly become one of the most interesting directors working. This is the third time in a row – following The Diary of a Teenage Girl and Can You Ever Forgive Me – where she has taken tricky material, and found a unique spin on it. It is a very odd film in many ways – more akin to indie films. There are even a few moments where she seems to be making a film like Synecdoche, New York – which is the last thing you would expect in a film about Mr. Rogers.

 

In many ways, I have grown tired of biopics – Bohemian Rhapsody was the nadir of the genre last year, and it was so celebrated that it drove me nuts. What Heller and company do in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood though is entirely different – it’s not really a biopic at all, but something altogether stranger, more unique. And the result is wonderful.