+ Best New York Movie of the Year
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| Emma Thompson has a different hairstyle than in the actual film, curiously, on the poster for Nisha Ganatra's Late Night |
Katherine Newbury is a British talk show institution in American comedy, - but her show's ratings have steadily declined for years, and she is in need of a radical reinvention in order to keep her show. Into her writers' room enters her fan Molly...
Late Night is written by writer/co-producer/co-star Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project (2012-17)) and directed by Nisha Ganatra (Chutney Popcorn (1999)).
Kaling is sweet as Molly, whose hiring is a mystifying stroke of luck for her. The job to restart the talkshow and open its host more up to her possible audiences is no small task, and Emma Thompson (Nanny McPhee (2005)) is terrific as the impatient, cynical, tyrannical boss, who is en route to her own career downfall. For someone with love for late night talk shows, the story's course echoes both David Letterman's infidelity scandal and admission on his show and the Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno fight for their respective shows. There is no woman late-night talkshow persona in real life like Newbury in the movie, (the great Ellen DeGeneres reigns daytime comedy with her talkshow), - but there could be.
As part of the role Thompson sports a hairdo and cool garbs and jewelry, which elevate her performance. Late Night doesn't do much cinematically, but Thompson, besides a great actress, is cinematic, and therefore even more crucial to the film. - And so is John Lithgow (Kinsey (2004)), her husband in it, and the two share a genuinely touching scene towards the end.
Late Night also benefits from a strong supporting cast with proven talents Amy Ryan (Kidnapped (2006-07)), Hugh Dancy (Evening (2007)), Reid Scott (The Veil (2016)), Dennis O'Hare (The Proposal (2009)) and Max Casella (The Sopranos (2001-07)).
The film has lines and moments that produce chuckles, although it could certainly be funnier; but it makes a thoughtful dealing with current issues of political correctness, mindless entertainment, minority representation, gender equality and hypocrisy its main priority.
Related post:
Nisha Ganatra: 2019 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2019 in films - according to Film Excess
Cost: Reportedly 4 mil. $
Box office: 21.7 mil. $ and counting
= Big hit (has returned 5.42 times its cost)
[Late Night premiered 25 January (Sundance Film Festival, Utah) and runs 102 minutes. The script was first bought by Fox 2000 in 2016. Paul Feig was originally scheduled to direct but dropped out. Shooting took place in New York from April 2018 - ?. Amazon paid 13 mil. $ for the North American distribution rights at Sundance, - a record. They furthermore spent a whopping 35 mil. $ to market the film. It opened #17 to a 246k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #9 and in 2,220 theaters, grossing 15.4 mil. $ (71 % of the total gross to date). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets have been the UK with 1.7 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Australia with 1.4 mil. $ (6.5 %). It has one more market announced to open in: Mexico on 18 October. Some analysts are calling the film one of the year's biggest flops due to Amazon's great expenses thrown at the film; but if the 4 mil. $ budget is accurate, the film is a big hit, and Amazon's expenses are also a part of their overall strategy, which is mainly about their streaming service, for which the film is likely an important touchstone. Ganatra returned with Black Monday (2019, TV-series) and will return theatrically with Covers (2020). Thompson returned with a voice performance in Missing Link (2019) and in the flesh in Men in Black: International (2019); Kaling does not have her next acting gig announced yet. Late Night is certified fresh at 80 % with a 6.8/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of Late Night?
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