A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Directed by Marielle Heller. Starring Matthew Rhys, Tom Hanks, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper, Christine Lahti, Enrico Colantoni, Wendy Makkena, Tammy Blanchard, Noah Harpster. [PG]

This story (based on fact) of the friendship that develops between a journalist (Rhys) and beloved children’s television icon Fred Rogers (Hanks) is an edifying, emotionally-reassuring document cluttered by the all-too-familiar territory of a cynic who’s gradually converted into a believer. Hanks is pitch-perfect as the soft-spoken, heart-warming public figure—not quite the saint he’s sometimes perceived as, but still someone who sincerely tries and cares—but the film suffers whenever he’s offscreen and the story focuses on the writer’s personal issues and redemption arc, largely related to his estranged absentee father (Cooper); there’s nothing in that storyline that hasn’t been expressed a dozen times before in other movies (oftentimes better), and Rhys is a prickly void of charisma. So eloquent and moving at times, so mundane and trite at others; some viewers may want to have a few tissues on hand, while others may want to keep the fast-forward button in reach. See also: the cozily engaging 2018 documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

67/100