Late Night

Daisy Mae the Sheep gets to introduce the next film.

Thank you, Jethro, thank you kindly. Tonight's movie is Late Night, the first feature film written by Mindy Kaling and the second movie this month starring Emma Thompson. Or, first; depends on when you see it. 

Katherine Newbury (Thompson) is the pioneering host of her own late night talk show, Late Night with Katherine Newbury. After twenty-eight years, she's gone so out of touch with contemporary viewers that her ratings are falling. She's less receptive to her all-male writing staff. She even fires a writer because he asked for a raise to support his growing family! 

Katherine decides to fill the void with her first woman writer. Said first woman writer is Molly Patel (Kaling), a chemical plant worker from Pennsylvania. Katherine and the other writers aren't exactly welcoming. But Molly is determined to prove to them that she's not a "diversity hire."

Meanwhile, station boss Caroline (Amy Ryan) decides to replace Katherine with a younger, hipper man named Daniel Tennant (Ike Barinholtz). Katherine decides to listen to Molly and adjusts her show to the times. Things go great until Katherine is caught with writer Charlie (Hugh Dancy).

And why do I have to give it to you?

It's my blog.

Fine. 

Nisha Ganatra, who, among other works, previously directed episodes for shows such as Transparent and The Mindy Project, sits in the director's chair. Kaling's screenplay is lighthearted, but the humor has a deep point. We can understand how unfair societal double standards are with Kaling's skewering of the late night production process. Katherine's first attempts at contemporary humor are painfully stale. But she comes around when she spins a routine mocking her career opportunities as a woman of her age.

Let's continue with Molly herself. Her first scene has her recite Yeats, optimistic about her dream job, but gets a trash bag thrown at her by a careless garbageman. She may, by her own admission, have no experience in TV, but she's ready to work for the job and prove her naysayers wrong. It's a bumpy road, but it works out in the end.

Thompson is great as Katherine Newbury. She's not exactly a people person, as her dismissal of the unlucky writer makes clear. She nearly fires Molly for skipping a meeting until she sees it's for a stand-up fundraiser. Her ice queen persona melts soon after. We see her as a self-loathing wreck with an imperfect marriage to Walter (John Lithgow). It's easy to miss the signs of the affair between her and Charlie. But her reconciliation with Walter and her owning up to the affair is awesome.

What else can I say? Amy Ryan and Max Casella (as showrunner Burditt) are standouts of the supporting cast. But the biggest standout is Lithgow as Walter, a loving man with secrets of his own.

Let's wrap it up. Late Night stands out in the crowded summer movie season. It'll give you an idea of how stressful and rewarding television is. It also gives you much to think about societal double standards. Tune into Late Night if this summer's current sequels and re-dos won't do. To quote Katherine's sign-off phrase, I hope it earns the pleasure of your time.