Late Night - Review

Late Night

Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (“Howards End”) and Mindy Kaling (“The Office”) together star in an American comedy-drama film directed by Nisha Ganatra and written screenplay by Mindy Kaling called “Late Night”.

Legendary talk-show host Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is a pioneer in her field. The only woman ever to have a long-running program on late night, she keeps her writers’ room on a short leash and they all male. But when her ratings plummet and she is accused of being a “woman who hates women,” Katherine puts gender equality on her to-do list and impulsively hires Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), a chemical plant efficiency expert from suburban Pennsylvania, as the first and only female on her writing staff.

With rumors swirling that Katherine is being replaced by a younger, hipper male host, she demands that the writers make her funny and relevant again. A lifelong fan, Molly is determined to prove she’s not just a diversity hire, but the one person who can turn her idol’s career around.

REVIEW: There is much to like about “Late Night”. It’s relentlessly charming, witty and very much in the modern world as it adroitly touches on all the “isms and or “ists ” that are common in most work place environments without ever being political or maudlin. Specifically, with loads of clever panache throughout its 1:40 minute running time we watch these two women who are at the opposite ends of their career spectrum fight for their professional survival. The have to fight back when its both their day to day colleagues and their senior work place management who are making broad unfounded assumptions justified by only their deep personal bias someone new, different or old is always automatically unqualified for their jobs for reasons having nothing to do with capability or character. “Late Night” tackles all of these issues with just the right balance of humor and appointed seriousness to make this (for me), a very, very surprising entertaining movie going experience.

As the acting goes, Mindy Kaling is going to be a star, maybe even an Academy Award winning star one day. While she is culturally of Indian decent, she seems through her acting ability here to be able to project the emotional embodiment of all women who have one time or another have dealt with misogyny. And without it being exclusively encapsulated in one specific nationality, Kaling navigates this specific woman's struggle as global women's struggles with disarming humor, realism and dignity.

But the real reason to see this film is Emma Thompson, who with profound displays of intelligence, sexiness and authenticity, you can actually begin to see her as a late night host as she brings to life her Katherine Newbury” with real and full instincts with moments of authenticity as a take charge “my way or the highway” hosts. And while her Katherine is seen as someone who is always direct and honest, there are other times she is believably brutal, condescending and abrasive to again being someone who is appropriately emotional, emphatic and caring. This is an impressive performance from Thompson and easily reminded me why I have been a big (smitten) fan of hers since 1992 in “Howard's End” and the equally impressive 1993 follow up in “Remains of the Day”, which both were respectfully nominated for as Best Pictures. 

In the end “Late Night” is not a rush out to see film, but it definitely should be a priority to see film on your fall red box or on demand rental viewing list.

3.25 Stars