America’s favorite neighbor gets the biopic treatment in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the latest from director Marielle Heller.
For those who didn’t grow up on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, let me explain its cultural significance: if you were an American preschooler in the 70s-90s, you could turn on your local public station and Mister Rogers would greet you with a song, tell you that your worries were valid but that everything would be okay, and leave you with the message that you are unique and special. Basically, Mister Rogers is a sweet figure from your earliest memories, and the man behind all this, Fred Rogers, was allegedly just as sweet in real life.
Before you groan about another saccharine biopic, remember that Heller brought us Can You Ever Forgive Me?, one of the most well-regarded biopics of the last few years. Sure, the people being followed there were a little more rough around the edges, but it was still sweet and ultimately forgiving, things that will need to be leaned into heavily to capture a goody two-shoes like Fred Rogers.
Helping her do this is none other than Tom Hanks, an actor who elicits many of the same fuzzy feelings on his own. Co-starring with him is an equally stellar cast, including Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper, and Enrico Colantoni.
This is all going to come down to Hanks capturing that Mister Rogers je ne sais quoi, though, and seeing him don the sweater and flip off the shoes does make it seem like they captured magic in a bottle.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is directed by Marielle Heller and stars Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, and Susan Kelechi Watson. It will be released in the US on November 19th, 2019 and in the UK on December 6th, 2019. For international release dates, click here.
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