Late Night

Starring: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Hugh Dancy, Denis O'Hare, Ike Barinholtz, Max Casella

Director: Nisha Ganatra

Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is the sole female host of late night television. With a nearly 30 year long career, she is known for only accepting excellence. After she is informed that her show has been bad for years and she is accused by her own staff of not liking other women (evidenced by her all-male writers' room), Katherine insists that a female writer is hired to turn the show around. When inexperienced Molly (Mindy Kaling, who also wrote the film) puts herself in the right place at the right time, she is hired on the spot. Soon after, Katherine learns that she is going to be replaced. With a lot of help from Molly's tenacity, Katherine decides she is not going down without a fight.

I loved this movie. Everything about it was amazing from the writing to the stellar casting. It's been widely reported that Kaling wrote the film with Emma Thompson not only in mind, but as the only choice, and it shows. I can't think of anyone who would have been better in the role of Katherine. Unapologetic and sharp, Thompson is wonderful as the lead. I also really appreciated seeing Kaling in a much more grounded role. Unlike her roles on The Office or even The Mindy Project, Molly felt much more like a real person. Incredibly earnest, Molly felt like someone you would actually want to be around. The supporting cast was great as well (including Hugh Dancy, who I honestly didn't recognize the entire film and kept wondering why they acted as though his character was attractive. Whoops!)

I attended a Q&A for the film and Paul Walter Hauser (who plays one of the writers) made a great point about the film. It doesn't try to convince you that a woman can host a late night show, it puts you in a world where it is fact and you just accept it. It didn't waste time explaining how we got to this point or even give you time to question it. This is representation. When you see something portrayed as normal, the world will realize that it is.

Something else that I appreciated about the film was that, like real life, no one is always right/good or always wrong/bad. People who are "good" make mistakes and people who are "bad" can be right about things. People can learn and change. The film is not preachy about this or any other "political statement" that it makes. Women being successful, especially women of color, is just life for the people who live it.

The film goes wide this weekend and I hope it gets the turn out it deserves. I'm excited to see more films like this in the future.

A+