Director: Marielle Heller
Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper
Have I Seen it Before: Nope.
Did I Like It: But the fact that I haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it’s not going to reach for every ounce of familiar comfort that it can get its hands on.
I’m legitimately torn about the casting of Tom Hanks. He looks nothing like the real Mr. Rogers, and in fact can’t realistically look like anyone other than beloved movie star Tom Hanks*. Then again, there would be no other credible star of a major film who would look like Rogers. Then again, again, if they were wanting anyone with enough positivity to have any hope of channeling Rogers’ essence, I can’t think of anyone better suited.
And the fact that I spent so much time while watching the film running through that line of thinking may indicate an issue with the film. It’s a pretty fascinating portrait of Rogers, wrapped in an otherwise unremarkable family drama. I got a much better tap into the man Rogers was, and felt more viscerally the kind of things Rogers would want us to feel through last year’s comprehensive documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
With one notable exception. At various points of the film, streaks of possible anger or at the very least less-than-total-perfection lying within Rogers are hinted at. It’s not meant to bring his stature down (there’s even a moment where the long-held urban legend maintaining that Rogers was either a Navy SEAL or sharpshooter), but to actually give the rest of us mere mortals a chance at reaching for his nigh-saintly nature. Even Rogers maintains that he feels angry at times, before delineating what he does to work through those feelings.
In the film’s final scene, Rogers watches the last take of the day on his TV show, and the production wraps. Everyone else in the studio leaves, and Rogers goes to the piano to tinkle the keys. He then pounds the low notes as the film ends, just as he told Lloyd Vogel (Rhys) he does when his temper gets the best of him. It’s a poignant movie to wrap things up, and man, do I wish I could have seen Rogers himself done the same thing.
*I suppose Polar Express (2004) is a fair exception, but even Woody the Cowboy Doll sort of looks like Hanks.