Jean-Paul’s Rating: 4/5 stars

Bottom Line: Fred Rogers may be the weirdest human being to ever exist. We should all be more like Fred Rogers.

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” follows Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) as he writes an article for Vanity Fair about Fred Rogers (Tom Hanks). Lloyd is convinced that Fred Rogers wears a mask and his Mr. Rogers is just a character on a children’s television show and he goes out to prove just that. What he finds is an extremely weird but authentic human being. The people that work with him are filled with loving frustration as he takes time to talk to children at their level and their speed, greatly slowing down production of the show. Fred Rogers appears to be the same behind the camera and in front of it. He has a way of getting into your head and making you share things. It is disarming being around a human being who appears to care with every inch of his being.

Excuse the intro and the outro of the movie as they are a bit hokey, but everything sandwiched in between is absolutely delightful. Tom Hanks plays a pitch perfect Fred Rogers and Matthew Rhys is a great uncomprehending foil. Even the entire cast surrounding Mr. Rogers and his television show does a great job of projecting bemusement at the situation they find themselves in with this character who is not at all a character. There are really cool little touches throughout the film and, like the intro and outtro, they are a bit hokey, but they all put together make you question if you are in real life or in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe. City skylines and travel montages are shot as if you were in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

If you need a movie that you will leave feeling all is right with the world despite all evidence to the contrary from the outside world, go see “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”. It is just a single facet in Fred Rogers’ multifaceted life but it’s a great look at an extremely unusual human being and we are all better for getting to know even just a little bit about him.