A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood *** (2019, Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Chris Cooper) – Movie Review

Tom Hanks’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar-nominated performance as TV host star Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is skilled, appealing and ingratiating. It gets right under your skin. It is better than the film, though that is attractively quirky and likeable, and quite good enough.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is all very downhome, homespun, cosy and retro piece of Americana. That is nice for a while, but the film does push its luck in the latter stages, and becomes too sentimental and simple-minded, but it remains charming. It still has a warm feel to it that would take Scrooge to say ‘bah humbug’ to.

It is two decades since Hanks’s last Oscar nomination for Cast Away (2000) and a very long time since his consecutive wins for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994), so we wish him well at the 2020 Academy Awards. There might be a lot of sentiment on his side. And, although he is nominated as Best Supporting Actor, it is not really a Supporting Actor performance, which could help him to win, as it certainly gives him a better chance than if he was nominated as Best Actor.

It is a quite showy huge supporting role, leaving Emmy winner Matthew Rhys a hard task as main star to shine as jaded journalist Lloyd Vogel, who is sent reluctantly by his editor (Christine Lahti) to interview him. The indispensable Chris Cooper gets enough to do as Lloyd’s dad Jerry Vogel, but some of it is tricky work to make fly. At least it is a better role than he has in Little Women.

Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).

The production is impeccable and the direction by Marielle Heller is loving, full of loving care. The movie feels like a little labour of love.

The screenplay by Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue is based on the true story of a real-life friendship between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod, and inspired by his article Can You Say … Hero. They also wrote Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.

Poor Matthew Rhys! He finally gets the star role in a big American movie, does good work, and ends up playing second fiddle to Oscar-nominated Tom Hanks.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Movie Review

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