Late Night A Cute Little Late Night Show We Got Here Grade: B
Source: IMDB
Late Night is about a Late Night talk show host Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), whom has held down a talk show host show for decades. Has ton of success including Emmy's, Golden Globes, Life Time Achievement awards etc. Although Katherine's boss informs Katherine this will be her last season, as ratings have declined. But have no fear, Katherine just hired her first woman ever to be hired in the writers staff Molly (Mindy Kaling), as hopefully Molly can change things around for this legendary talk show host. The Cinematography was alright, mostly bland and forgettable as I don't recall a single memorable shot in this film. The Score you can say the same as well. The cast t'was solid, couple performances that could've been improved, but I'm satisfied. Emma Thompson played a pretty good performance, I totally bought her as a talk show host, had a ton of charisma the way she presented herself in segments in her show. My flaw with Katherine is actually the scripts lack in exploring the idea, that she claims she is depressed. I thought when it was revealed she was depressed... It felt underdeveloped and underwhelming as well. I like how Katherine can be a relatable character, as far as not expressing to the world what her views are. In a world we live in, where if you disagree with the majority's opinion on any subject matter, you get crucified on the internet, human beings simply can't handle different opinions anymore. That's why many of us keep to ourselves, because it's not worth the harassment. It was a nice little message that people should feel comfortable expressing their views and not caring what others say, a nice little jab towards those weirdos. Mindy Kaling was adorable as Molly, a solid performance and I enjoyed this character as well, a strong smart independent woman whom is a stand up gal. John Lithgow as Katherine's husband once again had a solid performance. Halston Sage was in a small part in one of Katherine's talk show host segments and I gotta say... For the short time she was in this film, she played a bright spot in it, making a nice comedic moment. I'm disappointed to say as a Paul Walter Hauser fan, I believe this is his weakest comedic role yet. He doesn't really have much to do in this role, I'll admit I laughed maybe once when he was on screen, but I felt bummed out that he didn't impress me like he always has done in the past. So I do have a couple other flaws to give. I feel the comedy material for this film was fine, I wanted a stronger punch out of the comedy material as I feel it just had quick jabs, no knock punches here. The best joke from this film is hilarious, however the way Molly gets an interview was just plain silly and not believable at all. I'll admit it made me laugh and it's by far the best comedic scene in the entire film, but this feels more fantasy than reality as I can never see this scenario ever happen in a million years. I actually stayed away from trailers before seeing this film, I feel comedies can be better when you don't know any of the jokes. Late Night can be described by one word: Cute. I felt the story was nicely written, nothing about it will wow you in anyway, but I can say I enjoyed the story. I believe this story tries to deliver important messages, to some degree I believe they're handled well especially in the third act. Both characters have arcs and are both likable, I cared about them as they kept me invested. I feel this film falls between Netflix's The Breaker Upperers, where it's a funny charming cute little movie, for what it's worth I felt satisfied with what I was watching. Overall, Late Night was a good movie. I recommend this film if you haven't done so already, if you missed it in theaters no worries it'll be a lovely rental in the near future. -Mitch Smietana