At The Theater

I enjoyed the 2018 documentary film about Fred Rogers - “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” - so much that I was skeptical about bringing in the new film, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” starring Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks has played so many real-life characters (Captain Phillips and Captain Sully, to name two), that even he got tired of it. He sent out word through his managing agency that he would not look at any more scripts portraying real people. However, he had already met Director Marielle Heller, who got discovered at Sundance in 2012. So, she had her foot in Hanks’ door with the pitch for this film. Hanks was in.

I wasn’t, not at first. What’s better, to watch Fred Rogers be Fred Rogers, or to watch Tom Hanks try to be Mr. Rogers? Fred Rogers is an icon of integrity, honesty, kindness, decency and understanding. Tom Hanks is also a great guy with a great reputation on and off screen. (In fact, Hanks had his son, Colin, watch Mr. Rogers every week as a three-year-old to learn how to deal with emotions.) Still, I didn’t see much point to watching a biopic about Mr. Rogers right after having seen the documentary.

But this isn’t a biopic. “Beautiful Day” focuses on the friendship formed between Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. Junod got the assignment from Esquire magazine in 1998 to interview Rogers. At the time Tom wasn’t feeling too good about himself or life in general. He had become jaded and cynical. (In the film, the journalist’s name is Lloyd Vogel, played excellently by Matthew Rhys.) The interview changed Junod’s life; he and Fred Rogers remained good friends until Rogers’ death in 2003. Junod has testified that he overcame skepticism and learned empathy and decency from America’s most beloved neighbor.

And as for Hanks’ performance? Fred Rogers’s wife, Joanne, has vouched for him, and even helped him in the role. She also gave him Fred’s ties to wear during production. So, Hanks nails another one, and just in time: because the world I live in hails honesty at the expense of empathy, which is assault.

Rated PG with a run time of 149 minutes, “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” plays at the Liberty Theater January 3-7. For more information visit http://www.libertytheater.org.