A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood Review - The Film We Need Today

Fred Rogers was and is considered one of the nicest and most influential people in the entire world. His television program “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” inspired and touched many of the time both young and old. In 2017, a wonderfully crafted and snubbed documentary entitled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was released in theaters, which detailed the life and legacy of Mr. Rogers. Two years later, a biopic of a particular moment in the man’s life is now released in theaters entitled “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood”.

“A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” tells the true story of a journalist named Lloyd Vogel(played by Matthew Rhys), who is tasked to write a piece about the man himself Mr. Rogers(played by Tom Hanks). However, once Mr. Rogers enters Lloyd’s life, what was once a job becomes a life-changing experience.

Going into it, and seeing the documentary, I was very excited to see what Tom Hanks was going to deliver and what the direction of this particular piece was going to be. And after seeing it, I can now say that this was an emotional and great tribute to Mr. Rogers and his television program.

Let’s discuss Tom Hanks first. When you think about Rogers and Hanks’ personas(and being cousins), it almost seemed like a no-brainer. And in many ways, that statement does ring true but it also does some disservice to the performance being brought to us on screen. Hanks goes past the face that is his own and goes into the heart of who Fred Rogers was. From his vocal tone to his expressions to his posture, Hanks provides to us a great performance all around that fully understands the subject that they are playing.

Let’s also not forget the main lead himself: Matthew Rhys. There's many who have stated that they felt that the character is unlikable all the way through. For me, I find that to be the point of the character at first and the main emotional response that someone would have when seeing this guy at first and Matthew Rhys does this greatly. His performance is a great companion to Hanks. Seeing Rhys holding back emotion in the restaurant scene was the best part of his performance.

The final component that makes this film worked very well is Marielle Heller. The direction of this is excellent and she understands, just like Hanks, fully who and what Rogers was. In how Hanks performed as Rogers, Heller goes beyond the face of what the public view Rogers and see how he was behind the curtain. We see that Rogers is….human. Rogers deals with daily issues and has his own way of expressing emotion towards those issues and I thought it was great to see this being presented in the film. It gives the audience a chance to relate to Rogers.

My one compliant with the film would be in length. I think that there could have been more time to space certain components out and flesh out other subplots being presented.

“A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” is the film we need today. Its a film that carries a message of being positive in life and saying that it’s okay to be sad. It’s an emotionally charged and highly satisfying piece with two great leading performances coupled with excellent direction that honors the legacy that was Mr. Rogers.

“A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” Grade: B+