Lloyd Vogel was one of the toughest investigative journalists at Esquire and all of his sources hated what he wrote because he dug for the truth, no matter how bad it was. Of course this was to hide what was secretly going on in his own life with that of his father who walked away from his mother when she was on the edge of death and he hated him for it. That hate drove him to never want anyone else to get hurt again.
So when he is given the opportunity to profile a man named Fred Rogers, for an American heroes segment, Lloyd doesn’t hold anything back as he is determined to uncover the man underneath the kindness, however what he finds is the man in front of the screen is no different then the man behind and the journey to his healing is set on path as he goes deeper to discover just who is Fred Rogers, the symbol of kindness and humility to the world.
The latest film, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” is done in true Mr. Roger’s fashion as told through the much loved program that ran for over 4 decades. The filmmakers do an excellent job of meshing together the story of Lloyd as told by Mr Rogers from the time of finding out that Lloyd is going to be interviewing him to that of the revelation at the end where of course Mr. Rogers helps him deal with his looming pain and guilt that he has been carrying for years. Additionally the director even uses Mr. Roger’s cityscapes to transition from scene to scene which is both creative and makes the audience delve deeper into the world of Mr. Rogers.
Of course there is no one better to play Mr. Rogers then the incomparable Tom Hanks and the resemblance is remarkable as is his careful acting talent of portraying such a passionate man. Mr. Hanks fully embodied the heart, mind and soul of Mr. Rogers himself.
Similarly the actor who played Lloyd, Matthew Rhys also did an exceptional job of portraying such a tough journalist/reporter who goes from just being about the job to actually softening his heart a little when he first met the man named Mr. Rogers.
Similarly this isn’t the first time Rhys is teamed up with Hanks in a journalistic type movie. Coming from another journalism film, The Post, one can definitely see the same skill used in that film that Rhys transferred to this one in order to make it feel as authentic as possible. Additionally, there was a specific chemistry between the two that carried over from The Post to this movie although for the first time Hanks wasn’t the one barking out orders but he was taking the questions of Lloyd and turning them around on him to delve deeper into the truth and find out just how to help this ailing man.
All in all, the film paid great tribute to the all american puppeteer with a heart of gold and anyone who knows anything about Mr Roger’s Neighborhood will be pleasantly entertained. It’s the best feel good movie of the year and will leave audiences hopefully wanting to share a little bit of kindness in the world of pain.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood came out November 22 and is currently playing in a theater near you.