Fred Rogers was one of a kind, but Tom Hanks made a darned good go of it when I went to see A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. I was in the mood for a light movie without all the serial franchise routines and predictable action stunts and CGI. What I got was an eye-opening look at an enigmatic but insightful children’s television host from an outsider point of view.
I was drawn in from moment one.
The film starts with the familiar notes of the title song from the beloved show, and suddenly Hanks is smiling and going dress casual in his living room as if time had never moved on since the real Rogers’ death in 2003. Suddenly, though, the story takes an interesting turn, and our neighborly host becomes a benevolent Dr. Phil on chill pills, showing the young (or young at heart) viewers a picture of an injured Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys), who tried to resolve years of anger and resentment aimed at his father. The pair had recently duked it out during a family wedding reception, explaining the cut on Lloyd’s nose. Mister Rogers says Lloyd is our example of the topic for the day’s episode, which is forgiveness.
Along the way, we meet Lloyd’s wife and baby, and when his magazine editor asks him to interview Rogers for a piece on heroes, their lives intertwine as the line between interviewer and interviewee blur. Lloyd represses his feelings, and Fred’s are an open book, albeit one with some pain in it as well (he makes a fleeting reference to his sons, who both had issues with their father’s status as a television star).
It’s the human factor in the way Rogers always treated viewers that would bring out ways in which we can validate our own feelings and better ourselves. It’s hard not to reflect on our own feelings when somebody like Fred Rogers says that it’s okay to have bad emotions. Sitting through this movie was, in many ways, a therapy session, and we saw Rogers swimming laps to be in tune with his own thoughts and problems. Along the way, Lloyd begins to change, and he accepts Rogers’ mentoring.
Some scenes reminded us that we were watching a movie about somebody who used pretend to deal with reality: the scenery outside of the well-known neighborhood was a mock-up of cardboard cities, and even a funeral setting a la’ Beetlejuice (but without Michael Keaton’s trademark obnoxious humor). There is an uncomfortable moment when Fred brings out his puppets from a suitcase and tries to get Lloyd to open up, and some humor in the Neighborhood of Make Believe redirect the viewer to the real life situation happening in Lloyd’s life which must be addressed.
I feel as if I saw a new episode of the show, and yet it was still a movie that I could appreciate and learn from. My blood pressure went down, that’s for sure. This is a movie with a message we shouldn’t ignore in our daily lives. We are all special, we can do things to make life better, and it’s okay to be broken.
It’s such a good feeling.
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