OnScreen Review: "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood"
Ken Jones, Chief Film Critic
I did not fully appreciate Fred Rogers when I was a kid or for most of my life, really. Of course, like practically every other kid growing up in America from the late 1960s to the late 1990s, I watched Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, but I quickly lost interest in favor of show like Transformers, G. I. Joe, and Thundercats. I could still sing you most of the beginning and ending songs of his show, so clearly something stuck with me. However, it wasn’t until last year’s documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, which had a profound effect on me, that I started to have a real appreciation for his impact on the formation of millions of children, myself included. As it was my favorite film of 2019, I was more than happy to hear that 2019 was bringing a biopic of Fred Rogers portrayed by Tom Hanks. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a worthy follow-up to last year’s documentary.
Strangely enough, Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks) isn’t even the main character of his own biopic, which is actually rather fitting and probably not something he would object to. Instead, the man at the center of it all is Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), a journalist who is sent to profile Mister Rogers for Esquire. Lloyd is at a professional peak, but his personal life is a mess. He has just had a newborn with his wife Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson), and it is established early on that he has a very strained and emotionally fraught relationship with his father (Chris Cooper). After causing a scene at his sister’s wedding, he goes to Pittsburgh to interview Fred Rogers, who takes an interest in him and his baggage.
Obviously, Lloyd is the audience surrogate and entry point into the world of Fred Rogers, often described as a living saint when he was alive. Lloyd is very loosely based on Tom Junod, who wrote the actual Esquire piece that this film is based on. It doesn’t matter if Lloyd’s personal life reflects Tom Junod’s or not, in fact, it’s probably better that it doesn’t. Lloyd’s personal life reflects almost everyone in some small way. Everyone has broken elements of their lives. The world bruises or breaks everyone to varying degrees. And most adults lose the way they looked at the world as children. Enter Fred Rogers.
Fred’s interest in Lloyd is disarming and causes unease in Lloyd almost immediately, but it’s also completely sincere and genuine, which is rare in a world that seems to reward cynicism and callousness. The film, in fact, is framed as an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood with Lloyd’s life as the subject of the episode. It’s an ingenious and effective set up for the film. It takes the miniature town set and expands it to include Pittsburgh and eventually New York, showing those cities as just beyond the normal periphery of the TV show. Lloyd is naturally resistant to the “charms” of Mister Rogers, as it seems most people were. As with Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, it seems as though whenever the film is showing us an insight into the character of Fred Rogers, it’s also giving us insights into ourselves.
Hanks is about the only person imaginable who can come close to pulling off a performance like this. He has gained something of a revered, universally adored status in Hollywood and amongst moviegoers. He is familiar to audiences and has a personal connection to audiences that probably few actors have because of the roles he has had in the past (Forrest Gump, Woody, et al.). If there was a mantle for the legacy of Jimmy Stewart, Hanks would probably be the one to have that mantle. He has an earnestness and sincerity and generosity as an actor that suits him well for this role. As a fan of The Americans, I’m glad to see Matthew Rhys get some good exposure with this film too.
The film is directed by Marielle Heller, who has previously done Diary of a Teenage Girl and Can You Ever Forgive Me. Both of those are adaptations of (semi)autobiographical work, though both are much darker in nature than this. Both of those were impressive films, and this one stands right there with both. Arguably, it’s a more difficult task to bring this film to life and make it work so well, because Fred Rogers is not exactly a compelling protagonist. It is a very smart decision to make him a supporting role and to focus on this time period in his life rather than approaching his biopic in a broader way. It also pulls at the heartstrings, whether it is an entire subway car breaking into his theme song, or the steps at reconciliation between son and father, or even Lloyd finally putting into words his brokenness to his wife and his admission that even if he pushes her away it’s not what he wants. This film is a powerful denunciation of toxic masculinity and so many of the examples we are given in today’s world of what a “real” man should be, whether that message be from sports, culture, or the White House. It shows what a man of faith, love, and kindness can do in the world just by being who he is and loving others as himself.
My favorite scene in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood echoes the ending of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?; Fred and Lloyd are at a restaurant and Fred asks Lloyd to sit and think for a minute about the people in his life who made him who he is today. It’s a moment between the two to pause and reflect, but as it starts, the entire restaurant slowly stops too and be silent as well. It’s a powerful moment in the film. It’s not hyperbole to say that the world was blessed for having Fred Rogers in it, pointing us all to a better way, believing in us, and encouraging us to aspire and dream. It’s also not hyperbole to say that we’ve been blessed to have two films in consecutive years point out the way of Fred Rogers as an alternative to so much of today that alienates us from others rather than makes others our neighbors. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a perfect companion piece to Won’t You Be My Neighbor?.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars