Stars Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Paul Walter Hauser and Amy Ryan share the other leads and do very well.
We all have seen day time talk shows and night time talk shows. I mostly knew of the involved format. Every show, even game shows need writers to keep things fresh and ratings are everything to everyone. Low ratings mean possible cancellations of our favorite shows. Late night talk shows are the go-getters and mostly the most watched. Look at all offered today with one competing with the other. It’s the way of television.
Director Nisha Ganatra (“Transparent“) and writer Mindy Kaling (“The Mindy Project”) have offered up some fresh food for us about those talk shows. In “Late Night“, the ladies present us with a well polished comedy/drama about women in the workplace and how one deals with the opposite sex at the table to move up the ladder and chase down those big bucks. Katherine Newbury (Thompson) “owns” her long-standing late night talk show and is the only female in her position to do so.
She built her show with a strong writing team as everything is a team effort of men who often bump heads with. Just to show she’s not sexist, she opens up a slot for a female writer. With Newbury being a head-strong narcissistic bitch when she decides to be which is most all the time. It’s her husband and wine that cools her down. Along comes Molly Patel (Kaling). A non-experienced job seeking female from a chemical plant seeking something fresh. The show, time pressed to hire a female writer decides on Patel. She brings in her own style of writing and opinions. Newbury has so many people at her conference table she numbers them instead of attempting to remember a dozen names. Molly was the 8 ball.
Molly too pushes it to the limit with her boss who is trying hard to save her on-the-brink sagging talk show. She even interviews a former competitor vying for her position and traps him on the air to tell her to stay. That was classy. In a visit in her sixth floor apartment in Brooklyn. Newbury comes to beg Molly to come back to work after being fired by her. Change of heart is good for the ratings. Molly answered the door in good garb with a painting job in process and a roller in hand. No paint drippings or messy hands to be found. No paint tarps or tape anywhere. What a neat painter. Who actually paints in good clothes and with no gloves? Ok. enough picking already.
The very low point in Newbury’s career is when she is demonized by the tabloids for bring out her past extra-marital affair. The chemistry between Emma and Mindy comes with a lot of heart. Again, Molly helps her to just be herself and no one else. Her husband puts all that behind them and she moves on in her own way still refusing to give up her throne despite of her living up to the rumor. The chemistry between Emma and Mindy comes with a lot of heart.
Late Night opens everywhere June 7, 2019 and is worth the popcorn and laughs. 4 stars (out of 5)
