A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Success in 1 hour and 47 minutes!!!!!!!! Rated PG for Some Mild Language, A Brief Fight and Some Strong Thematic Material!!!!!!!!!!!!! Starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The film might mislead audiences into thinking it's a deep dive into Mr. Rogers when, in reality, it's about the journalist interviewing him. This is, of course, intentional, and in my experience, effective. We naturally identify with the journalist as he attempts to uncover Rogers’s private life, only to end up learning more about himself and finding healing in the process. The structure works well in the first half, with a clear emotional midpoint. However, once the protagonist learns his lesson, the second half noticeably lacks conflict, leaving little reason to stay engaged. The pacing, while in line with the film’s tone, doesn’t help in making this portion feel less empty. That said, the film is well-directed and well-acted. I’d even say Matthew Rhys outshines Tom Hanks as Mr. Rogers. The way the film creatively blends elements from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood with its own narrative is particularly effective. Overall, it’s a well-crafted film with a few minor issues. Some may find it slow, but it delivers an emotional story with a meaningful message. I’d recommend it, especially to those familiar with Mr. Rogers’s show.

a lovely film that had me in tears of joy and sadness. hanks is a phenomenal Mr. Rogers

A great movie and great acting by Hanks.

A frustrating mixed bag of a biopic movie that feels less like a Mr. Rogers movie and more like movie that happens to have Mr. Rogers in it. Which would be fine if the main characters were likable and engaging. But my god, is this one of the worst examples of the entitled "forgiveness" plot lines I've seen in a while. The main character is already unlikable, but he has a damn good reason to not want anything to do with his deadbeat father, considering how (SPOILERS) abandoned his mother when she died of cancer. That crosses a boundary and the burden of this betrayal shouldn't be on son. The main character shouldn't be forced to forgive his father just to make him feel better. Making the father dying is just a cheap Hollywood tactic to guilt the protagonist into forgiving his terrible father figure. Even if the father has changed, that doesn't entitle him forgiveness. Forgiveness must be earned and consenting from both ways. And you can still emotionally heal from a betrayal even if you don't forgive someone. You can even resume a polite, but Distant relationship to that person who wronged you, even if you don't forgive them. These are all nuances in the emotional complexity of broken and repaired relationships. But no, the movie isn't interested in that. Instead the father continually breaks his son's trust, repeatedly approaching him no matter how many times he says no, manipulating everyone else for sympathy, even stalking him home and manipulating his family into letting him in the house. And they make the son act violent & intense just to push us into the arms of the father. Obviously both characters are acting out of line, but I'm not engaged and it feels too unlikable and poorly executed for a movie about Mr. Rogers. I get that this was partially inspired by a true story, so this is based on someone's own personal family baggage. But when making a movie with a big thematic message, you still have to consider the implications of your story's moral and how other people might go through similar events. It just gives me the vibe of "Forgive your family regardless of your own feelings, no matter what they did, since that's the only way to emotionally heal." That being said, the movie still has plenty of positives. The acting, dialogue, and directing is all pretty solid. Tom Hanks give a charming and gentle performance. He looks and sounds nothing like Mr. Rogers, but I have a soft spot for it, since he sounded eerily similar to my own grandfather. We still get a decent third of the movie dedicated to him, and those are easily the best parts of the movie. I'm still glad I saw the movie, but it's definitely uneven due to its secondary source material.

Tom Hanks played Mr. Rogers so well, its impossible to walk away from this movie without a fuzzy, comforted feeling.

Very good biography about the struggles of father and son relationships.

This movie legitimately made me cry. When he said “To be die is to human”as he sat with Lloyd’s family did it for me. I have this crippling fear of death that has been lingering over me for quite some time, and when he said that it just felt so reassuring. Like an angel came down and told me everything would be alright. I’m quite young, so I don’t know why exactly I fear it. I know I have a TON of time left, but I fear it. Who would have thought that seeing a movie I had no interesting in viewing prior to today, would save me. I genuinely think I’ll never worry about it again. This movie about a children’s tv star who passed away before I was even born did more for me than any other film I’ve ever seen. 5/5 Marielle Heller is a genius and I cannot wait to watch her other work. Bravo.

Mr Rogers was as complicated as any man. I met him once. But I was in my forties before I realized that his voice was a put on. Not in a bad way, but I think he had a normal voice and talked like that to be non threatening.

I love the movie from start to finish. I guess Im biased as I watched him when I was younger of course. I mostly liked when he gave those messages about life and how to deal with your emotions. I see many adults today not being able to deal with their emotions and destroy their environment unfortunately. They are so many things we can learn from him. I would even day to say that every adult should watch his series. Even to this day in 2024 its worth a watch. PS: from my perspective as a man...do yourself a favor, watch this alone.