A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood: Review

It's kind of hard to come to this movie as a gen z English teen for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I didn't really know who Mr Rogers was and had no nostalgia for him at all. I'd heard references and seen snippets. The episode where a raggedy tiger puppet asks a woman what assassination means has been used in multiple parodies and a fair few memes. Basically I was aware of his existence but I had no idea who he really was or what his show was about coming into this film.

Secondly, as a cynical member of modern society it's very hard for me to see any cardigan clad children's TV presenter as not sinister. It's a sad fact that no-matter how innocent the scenario is or how wholesome the presenter is in question, my mind instantly starts telling me that something's not right here, something is off.

It's been a while since I've seen anything at the cinema which I would class as a bad film, but I think A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood is in it's own weird subsection of the bad film category. It's not bad by intent, it's bad by societal change. The way we read this film now compared to how we would read it even ten years ago has changed drastically and unfortunately not even Tom Hanks can persuade the audience away from a now firmly ingrained image of puppets, dolls and the men that do voices for them being inherently creepy.

1. Narrative

Lloyd Vogel is an investigative journalist who has been hired to do a fun lighthearted article on one of America's childhood hero's Fred Rogers. In conflict with his deadbeat dad and estranged from his wife and newborn child, Lloyd sees his work as a way to avoid his emotions an escape his responsibilities as a father.

Enter Fred Rogers. He has time for everyone, he's never angry and presents a saint like image that's adored by children and adults everywhere. What confuses Lloyd is that the image isn't just an image, that's really who Fred Rogers is. Convinced that this man can't be real and that there must be some skellingtons hidden in that wardrobe of his, Lloyd continues to interview and investigate Mr Rogers.

What he finds is a man with an unwavering dedication to his work and teaching children about how to handle their emotions. His show isn't just about puppets it's about a safe space for children to learn about some of life's big messages. Death, divorce and yes, assassination are all topics Mr Rogers has covered on his kids show. Through his interactions with Fred, Lloyd finally starts to face his emotions and strives to be the man others see in him.

On paper this is a very relevant and important message for modern audience. At a time where anger is often our first and last resort in every situation, people like Mr Rogers and his advocacy of peace and self-control are important to remember. This could have been the film we all needed if its message didn't get lost in poor execution.

2. Where did it go wrong?

While I saw and understood the message that the film was trying to get across it didn't quite hit its mark. Part of this I think is down to me just not connecting with the performances.

For a film about emotion, the actors in this film seem to be showing an astonishing lack of it. I didn't believe in the chemistry between Lloyd and his wife, I didn't believe his anger towards his father (although that might be something to do with the fact that Matthew Rhys looks nothing like Chris Cooper) and as much as he's been praised for his performance, I didn't believe in Tom Hanks much either.

Having watched the documentary Would you be my Neighbour? on Netflix I can understand why Tom Hanks was cast. He looks a bit like him and he contains that wholesome, impossible to dislike energy. It's a shame that half the time he sounds like he's high on weed.

I didn't feel the enthusiasm from Hanks that I do from watching the real Fred Rogers in the documentary. Tom Hanks version feels kind of spaced. When I left the cinema the first comparison I came to was that he delivered his lines like Winnie the Pooh.

There are too many slightly creepy moments in this film for them not to be intentional. Mr Rogers showing Lloyd all his puppets randomly comes to mind as a particularly uncomfortable moment as does Mr Rogers staring right into the audience during a scene where he's asked Lloyd to think of the people who made him... and not blinking for a minute. I believe these moments are intentionally unsettling to put the audience in Lloyds point of view. We kind of want something to be wrong with this man, there's no way he can be this perfect. Unfortunately the film doesn't have the guts to go the whole hog with making Mr Rogers intentionally creepy. If they had done, it would have at least made sense but instead we get this uncanny valley thing going on where much like Mr Rogers puppets we can't really read their intentions or their emotions and we don't know what to think about them.

Throughout the film I was constantly wondering when we were going to see an emotion from this guy that felt genuine. I understand that we've got an actor playing an actor thing going on here and that the story isn't really about Mr Rogers but that's the thing... I think it should have been!

3. Won't you be my Neighbour?

I watched the documentary after watching the film because I really did want to know more about him and how he ended up doing what he did. The documentary is fascinating and a great uplifting watch but also much more emotional and interesting than the film.

Throughout the film Tom Hanks' Rogers talks about him not being a perfect human or a perfect father. The problem is we never see any of this, we don't even see his kids in the film. While this may be by request of his children that are still alive I personally think the story of having the nicest man on the planet as your father is a much more interesting dynamic. There was a letter Fred Rogers wrote to himself which is read out in the documentary expressing self doubt. These are humanising aspects. The reason that Hanks' Rogers unsettled me so much is that there isn't much that grounds him in reality. There isn't any evidence of the emotions in him that he's teaching children how to manage. Therefore he feels ingenuine and ergo a bit creepy.

4. Conclusion

There are aspects of this film that I loved. I loved the set design, I loved the surreal moments. I loved the way they used the models to show characters moving from place to place. I didn't mind the drab colour palate that seperated the real world from the fantasy Neighbourhood and even costume and makeup were pretty damn good.

But... it's emotionless. And I haven't got any nostalgia to disguise that.

All the emotions seem ingenuine. The loveable and wholesome aspects seem creepy and the whole thing just felt very odd and detached for me.

It's disappointing because the message and the themes are so strong and so timely, just not tangible in the way this film presents them.

Watch the documentary if you can, A Beautiful day in the Neighbourhood however, is a hard pass from me.

4/10