A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Movie Review

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Watch the trailer
Written by: Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster
Directed by: Marielle Heller
Starring: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper, Susan Kelechi Watson, Enrico Colantoni
Rated: PG

Plot
A journalist's life is enriched by friendship when he takes on an assignment profiling Fred Rogers. Based on the real-life friendship between journalist Tom Junod and television star Fred Rogers.

Verdict
As you might expect it's a very touching movie, though it's about  journalist Lloyd Vogel more than it's about Mr. Rogers. Hanks is amazing though. The movie didn't add prosthetics so that Hanks looked exactly like Rogers which avoids the distraction of trying to find Hanks under the makeup. Hanks completely captures Roger's passion for people and a lot of his mannerisms. Mr. Rogers transformed Vogel's life purely by example. That's notable when conversion is often a game of yelling the loudest. Vogel at one point asks Mr. Rogers if he is a hero. Rogers avoids the question, but what we see in this movie is a powerful testimony.
Watch it.

Review
Hanks really sells it as Mr. Rogers. I truly believe it when he empathizes with people. While Hanks shines every time he is on screen, this is a Lloyd Vogel movie. It's not a Fred Rogers movie, though Rogers is prominent.

Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers.

I appreciate the lack of prosthetics. Often times it overshadows the performance like Gary Oldman in Darkest Hours. I was preoccupied with trying to see Oldman underneath all the latex. It didn't help the movie was lackluster.

Matthew Rhys plays Lloyd Vogel.

The movie is framed as a Mr. Rogers episode with Rogers talking about his friend Lloyd. These bookends free the movie from feeling like a documentary. The most striking aspect of the story is that Rogers changed Lloyd without trying to convert him or preaching to him. It was pure example.
Lloyd is full of anger and mad at the father who abandoned him as a kid. That weighs on Lloyd as he's a new father himself.
When Lloyd is tasked with a puff piece on Mr. Rogers he's against it arguing he's an investigative journalist. Lloyd tries to get past the Mr. Rogers act and discovers it isn't an act.

This movie gets too artsy at times. Most scenes are introduced with a Mr. Rogers style model city and while cute at first after a while it became too much. There were more than a few slow camera pushes to characters that started to become distracting. There's also a strange shift in tone towards the middle of the movie that just felt out of place. It's a rather long sequence that I wont spoil. You can't miss it.
It's not that the direction on this movie is bad, but the movie is so good that these miscues really stand out. There is a very powerful minute of silence in the movie. It's one of the best uses of silence I've seen in a movie.

When we first see Mr. Rogers he's talking to a child that isn't behaving and the parents are exasperated. Through his care and concern, Rogers breaks through to the kid. The kid realizes the compassion of Mr. Rogers. It happens quicker than it would in reality, but it makes the point. Similarly when Lloyd is talking to Rogers, Roger's silence prompts Lloyd to fill the void. People connect with Mr. Rogers.

Rogers and Vogel.

Rogers is impressive because when he's talking to you that's the most important thing in the world to him and I believe Hanks as he portrays Rogers. Seeing such a genuine person causes you to self reflect. How do you remain in the moment every time? How do you deal with exasperation and strong feelings? Rogers has a distinct concern with how he interacts with people, something we often ignore or take for granted. Rogers isn't naturally a saint. He works hard at it, though we don't see any of his missteps in the movie.

Rogers states he was bullied and that he never wants a child to feel the way he did. The movie doesn't delve into Roger's childhood, but it makes clear that Rogers had a passion for people. There are glimpses of the difficult topics Mr. Rogers covered because he believed kids shouldn't be shielded from tough issues.