A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

Mister Rogers was one of the kindest human beings who ever lived. Not one of the kindest celebrities, one of the kindest humans, period. Anyone who has ever used television as a tool to prepare children for the harshness of the world and the emotions they would feel living in it as adults deserves that label.

This titan of tenderness comes to the big screen, played by America's favorite actor, Tom Hanks, in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, inspired by an actual article about the man himself, and written by someone who desperately needed his help.

Lloyd Vogel is a pessimistic journalist for Esquire known for his hard-hitting pieces and going through strained relationships with his father and with his wife. His next assignment is a piece on heroes, more specifically on everyone's favorite cardigan wearer, Mister Rogers, much to his chagrin. But during his interviews with him, Lloyd discovers that there may be more to this "hokey kids-show host" as he learns how to forgive his father as well as how to be a good one for his new son, Gavin.

While other biopics may feel the need to humanize their subjects by diving into their flaws, director Marielle Heller wisely makes the choice not to, because it seems to know that doing such would be forced and make it MORE artificial instead of less. She also is right to have Lloyd be the center of the story, representing the bitterness that comes from seeing the world for what it is. I think every adult in the audience will see an uncomfortable amount of themselves in him because many of us, unfortunately, forgot to be as kind as Mister Rogers told us to be. But even grownups need help with their emotions, sometimes more so than children.

Tom Hanks as Mister Rogers is every bit as wonderful as it sounds. While he doesn't look or sound exactly like the man himself, Hanks' natural kindness and likeability make this his best performance in years, and one of his best. It's the kind of role we've always wanted to see him in, really.

But it's not just Hanks that brings Mister Rogers back to life. Toy airplanes fly and little cars move down roads to take us from one scene to another, the story is bookended by Rogers showing us a picture board telling Lloyd's story, and Lloyd even finds himself in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, along with Daniel Striped Tiger and King Friday XIII in one scene. The whole movie feels like one big episode of the series, and I mean that in the best possible way.

As for the rest of the cast, Matthew Rhys sells Lloyd's pain beneath his jaded and bitter outside, Susan Kelechi Watson is fantastic as his wife and she becomes more and more his anchor, and Chris Cooper as his father makes us both understand Lloyd's rage against him and also see his willingness to change and move on from the past.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is the most heartfelt and moving film since the last movie about Mister Rogers. In a season dominated by killer clowns and sequels made for a quick buck, I highly recommend you see it. You're guaranteed to cry at least once, and even if you don't, I still like you just the way you are.