A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Matthew Rhys and Tom Hanks.

The story is a simple one: cynical journalist gets fluffy assignment and the subject softens him. Sounds sappy, right? Well, it could have been, but it wasn't. This film, which tells of Lloyd Vogel's (Rhys) coverage of children's icon Fred Rogers (Hanks) several decades ago, gets the temperature right.

The star, Matthew Rhys of The Americans,  was perfectly cast as the prickly writer who scoffs at his boss when she assigns him to interview Mr. Rogers. He's a Serious Journalist after all, and reporting on humanitarian "heroes" is well beneath his skill set.

But actually, it wasn't. The timing coincided with some personal conflicts the writer was going through and true to form, Mr. Rogers was exactly the salve his soul needed to resolve them. Of course, Hanks as Rogers is as good as it gets, him nailing the legend's slow cadence of speaking and mannerisms.

Really, the whole film, though quite sad in many sequences, was a pleasure to watch, both for its message and its reminder of a man who made genuine kindness his brand.

A welcome return to the neighborhood.

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