A One Mann’s Movies review of “Late Night” (2019).
Bob the Movie Man’s Rating:
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R.
Emma Thompson‘s latest film – Late Night – sees her as Katherine Newbury – a fictional long-standing British late night talk-show host on a US network. The similarities with James Corden (aside from the sex and the really annoying laugh) are obvious. Because the story thrusts itself into the real world, where references to the likes of Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon (though curiously not Corden) appear.
Facing the chop: Katherine (Emma Thompson) gets her marching orders from the boss (Amy Ryan). (Source: FilmNation Entertainment).
The Plot.
Newbury is in a self-imposed rut, and has been for over 10 years: a lazy, formulaic rolling out of the same old schtick with the same boring types of older guests. This is progressively disenfranchaising her from the growing millenial audience; her rating are plummenting and her network boss (Amy Ryan) is happy to advise that the end is nigh.
“Personal excellence” is her watchword, so this comes as a big surprise to her. Less so though to her Parkinson’s afflicted older husband, and famous ex-comic Walter Lovell (John Lithgow).
Things need to change. Katherine insists on hiring a woman: any woman. And Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) is in the right place at the right time. She joins the misogynistic all-male, all-white writing team and sparks fly. So can Katherine – who also has never met the writers! – turn the ship around?
Molly (Mindy Kaling), ever confident and chasing her dreams. (Source: FilmNation Entertainment).
A top-rate script.
The script by Mindy Kaling drips with great lines. (She cut her comedy writing teeth on the US version of “The Office”). The exchanges between Thompson and Kaling are often the best. One of these is particularly sharp: where Thompson’s Newbury launches into a diatribe about the narcissistic nature of youngsters on social media. She moans that young people are constantly spouting their deepest feelings online, in a constant search for some sort of collective redemption. This is a clever and perceptive piece of writing: Newbury comes from my post-war generation where life was just about “bloody getting on with it”.
“TimesUp” messages heavily weight the script. But an issue, for me, is that these female empowerment (and the positive racial discrimination messages) are rather too firmly driven home. A scene that particularly grates is the final one that goes completely overboard with the saccharine.
The writing team – “1” to “7” – before Molly arrives. Shown here are boss Denis O’Hare (far left) and lead monologue-writer Reid Scott (far right). (Source: FilmNation Entertainment).
The players.
Emma Thompson and John Lithgow, an acting dream-team, don’t disappoint particularly when they bounce off each other. But it’s a shame that they don’t have more scenes together. Lithgow’s role in general seems rather light and superficial. For example, there’s a scene where Walter and Molly meet during a party, and I was expecting some sort of cute student:mentor relationship to develop; but no, he remains forever on the sidelines.
Thompson’s ‘wicked witch of the broadcasting west’ is a heartless hatchet-women, performing Trump-like firings in withering fashion. It’s a characterisation as vivid as Streep’s equivalent from “The Devil Wears Prada”. “Thawing” scenes where she reengages with real-life and hits the streets for outside broadcasts, are well done.
Standing up to cancer. Katherine and Molly take the stage. (Source: FilmNation Entertainment).
Kaling’s role was, for me, fine without being totally sparkling. I found her character a tad annoying, and never 100% believable. I did enjoy though the performances of Reid Scott (famous for being Dan in “Veep”) and Denis O’Hare as Katherine’s right hand man Brad. My wife and I spent AGES trying to place where we knew the latter from: IMDB put us out of our agony…. he is the hilarious Judge Abernathy from “The Good Wife”/”The Good Fight” series.
Scriptwriters on set.Tom (Reid Scott) and Molly (Mindy Kaling) enjoying their jokes. (Source: FilmNation Entertainment).
Overall.
There are some pretty dodgy films out there at the moment and “Late Night” is not one of them. It’s a solid and entertaining night out at the movies: seeing Dame Emma Thompson strutting her stuff is good value for any movie dollar.
