Late Night

Yesterday I saw Late Night, starring Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson.

Molly (Kaling) works at a chemical plant, loves comedy and wants to be a writer. She applies for a position at a Late Night television show where Katherine (Thompson) is an aging, out-of-touch host. Because they need a “diversity hire” she gets the job—never mind the fact she has no experience in the industry.

Soon she’s adapting to an otherwise all-male writers’ room full of egos and habits that are hard to break, plus the abuse that comes from the top, as the boss is resistant to change, though her ratings are steadily dropping.

Molly has fresh ideas and she’s not afraid to share them, which gets her into some trouble, but she is undeterred. As Katherine’s situation becomes worse and worse, she has to decide whether or not to listen to Molly or potentially lose her show.

Mindy's character has the potential to be annoying, but isn't in the least and Emma's has the potential to be one-note, yet is refreshingly multi-dimensional. And the men—even the bros—have redemptive qualities, though they could have easily been written as stereotypically awful.

Put simply: this perfectly paced, satisfying film was such a welcome reprieve from the world that I almost turned around and bought a ticket to see it again upon its end. It's that great.

We need more films like this. Films that have a basic beginning, middle and end yet don't feel like fluff and allow us to care about the characters because there is something about them that is worth caring about.

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Saving Mr. Banks

Tonight I screened Saving Mr. Banks, starring Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks.

PL Travers (Thompson) was an Australian author who had suffered a difficult childhood at the hands of her drunken father and depressed mother. It was her imagination that got her through it and led her to eventually write Mary Poppins, which achieved great success.

Walt Disney (Hanks), a legendary Missouri-born entrepreneur, of course created the Happiest Place on Earth™. After his daughter, Diane, fell in love with the book Mary Poppins, he promised her someday he would turn it into a movie. It took him 20 years, but he kept that promise.

This film tells that story in flashbacks to Travers' childhood (which can be quite disturbing) and throughout the process of convincing her to sell the rights to Disney. The two leads couldn't be better in their roles, Hanks capturing every mannerism Disney was known for; Thompson a hard shell of a woman with a heartbreaking past bubbling underneath. Sweet moments of humor, like a spoonful of sugar, help this "medicine" go down.

Travers really defined the Hollywood term "development hell" and took issue with just about every song, design and element proposed to her by the "Americans." It can't have been easy for the writer and songwriters to navigate, but obviously, in the end everyone got a classic.

The film is much more dark than I expected it to be, and I found myself crying at least four times.

That said, the writing is not emotionally manipulative or too far from the truth at any time. In fact, reading through this article, it comes pretty close. The real footage of the film and also the final credits (which hold real surprises) were a nice touch.

I enjoyed the story, and would recommend it for adults, but not for children due to the disturbing flashback sequences.

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Stranger Than Fiction

Today I saw Stranger Than Fiction starring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson.

It is the topic of Cinebanter 13, which is available here.