The new film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a narrative/fiction account of Mr. Rogers… or so the marketing would have you believe. There’s some hocus pocus misdirection going on with this film but, at the same time, it’s a fantastic film in its own rights. Just a little misleading.
So this movie is about an Esquire writer who, in 1998, interviewed Mr. Rogers for a piece on heroes (which was published in real life so this is partly based on a true story). Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers in a bit of perfect casting… though he doesn’t look a lot like Fred Rogers, he gets the mannerisms and vocal styling down great. But Tom Hanks is actually a supporting actor in this film which is chiefly about the writer, his immediate family, and his estrangement from his father. It’s about a “broken man” who is partly healed by the kindness of a magical presence is his life: Mr. Rogers.
If you want an actual biopic of Fred Rogers, go watch the 2018 documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor. In all respects about Mr. Rogers, that’s the far superior film. However, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is, by my estimation, a better movie… just not the movie you thought you were going to see.
As a family and human drama about life and a man in crisis, this is a damn good movie. The writer had a tragedy involving his mother (who is dead) and a father who abandoned his family when he was needed most and now wants to make amends. The writer just wants to write a puff piece about Mr. Rogers (his assignment) but Fred Rogers sees a wounded person who needs his special brand of TLC. The movie spends a LOT of time on the writer, his wife, his newborn son, his father, and his pseudo-new-stepmother… and Mr. Rogers flits in and out of the story. The film has no interest or ability to tell the inner life story of Fred Rogers partly because the movie’s not about him but also, most likely, the screenwriters didn’t have any more insight on his inner self than the documentary had.
So, yeah, the movie’s trailer does show us that it’s about the writer but not to the extent that it is. And that’s ultimately ok… this is a very good, very heartfelt, very emotional film about life, forgiveness, and family. In that it’s not as much about what you think it might be about is ultimately ok. Assuming you can get into and care about this random writer’s life.
Score: 90