A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
Stars: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper
Runtime: 109 minutes
Synopsis: Based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Lloyd Vogel.
Performances: 6/10
Screenplay: 3/10
Costumes/Makeup: 6/10
Editing: 5/10
Cinematography: 5/10
Score/Soundtrack: 6/10
Verdict: I didn't grow up watching Mr. Rogers' show. In fact, the first time I was ever exposed to the "nicest man on television" was with the acclaimed documentary about him that came out a couple of years ago. For that reason, I'd say that I watched Marielle Heller's follow up to "Can You Ever Forgive Me?" with no sentimental attachment to the topic at hand whatsoever, and was able to look at it from a perfectly neutral point of view.
Going in, all I knew about "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" was that Tom Hanks' Oscar-nominated performance as Fred Rogers was one of the best of the year. And while it's certainly the highlight of the film, all I could unfortunately see was Hanks playing himself. I never really bought him as the television icon, and didn't feel that his role was demanding enough to justify the award streak he's been on. But as soon as the credits started rolling, I immediately understood why he was the main talk of the movie: It's because everything else was incredibly bland and uninteresting. The film's main protagonist, played by Mattew Rhys, was such a two-dimensional, almost caricature-like character that had absolutely no depth to him. His hardships, mainly consistent of cheesy family drama and underdeveloped father issues, were the main driving force of the movie and reason why he develops such a strong bond with Mr. Rogers, but boy was it difficult to take any of it seriously. I wrapped my head around my hands on multiple occasions due to the incredible level of unawareness in some of the scenes (one that takes place in a subway almost made me give up on the movie) as well as a few awkwardly inserted stylistic transitions that didn't work at all for me. Technically, only these transitions stood up for all the wrong reasons as the cinematography, aside from a few retro sequences intended to imitate the show's quality, was overall pretty dull.
Maybe people who are more familiar with the character of Mr. Rogers will find the film more interesting than I did, but I personally didn't care about any aspects of it. And if like me you're interested in the character himself, I'd definitely recommend checking out "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", the documentary that preceded it, instead of this adaptation.
Going in, all I knew about "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" was that Tom Hanks' Oscar-nominated performance as Fred Rogers was one of the best of the year. And while it's certainly the highlight of the film, all I could unfortunately see was Hanks playing himself. I never really bought him as the television icon, and didn't feel that his role was demanding enough to justify the award streak he's been on. But as soon as the credits started rolling, I immediately understood why he was the main talk of the movie: It's because everything else was incredibly bland and uninteresting. The film's main protagonist, played by Mattew Rhys, was such a two-dimensional, almost caricature-like character that had absolutely no depth to him. His hardships, mainly consistent of cheesy family drama and underdeveloped father issues, were the main driving force of the movie and reason why he develops such a strong bond with Mr. Rogers, but boy was it difficult to take any of it seriously. I wrapped my head around my hands on multiple occasions due to the incredible level of unawareness in some of the scenes (one that takes place in a subway almost made me give up on the movie) as well as a few awkwardly inserted stylistic transitions that didn't work at all for me. Technically, only these transitions stood up for all the wrong reasons as the cinematography, aside from a few retro sequences intended to imitate the show's quality, was overall pretty dull.
Maybe people who are more familiar with the character of Mr. Rogers will find the film more interesting than I did, but I personally didn't care about any aspects of it. And if like me you're interested in the character himself, I'd definitely recommend checking out "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", the documentary that preceded it, instead of this adaptation.
FINAL GRADE: 4/10
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