Night time TV shows are an American invention, brought to the level of art by the likes of Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, David Letterman. This is also a very masculine world, there almost were no presenters of such shows among women. ‘Late Night‘ written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Nisha Ganatra takes place in this world and has as its main heroine a female presenter of such a show, of British origin atop all, who is facing a crisis inherent in the profession and life: age – her age and the age of the show to which she dedicated her career and life. Let’s add that the main role is played by Emma Thompson, who, at the age of 60, receives, after the ‘The Children Act‘, another lead role of those that are said to ‘fit her like a glove’ and here we have the premises of a highly interesting movie, one of those generating huge topic and casting expectations.
The peak moments of Katherine Newbury’s show are behind. In fact, for about ten years, the flow of ideas has become stagnant and ratings have slightly eroded, which makes the decision of the boss of the television network (and she’s a woman, at least in this movie, women go far!) to replace her as host sound logical. It is known that this is an extremely competitive business, in which broadcasts of this kind are fighting not only with each other for the attention and time of the spectators but also with the threats brought by the new medium of information and entertainment – the Internet. Katherine’s problems are in conservatism, in the lack of diversity of the team that writes her texts (all men, all white), and especially in the lack of human contact with her collaborators in particular (she never met some of the people who write her texts) and with the world around her in general. The host star had devoted all her efforts to the show that represents her whole life, but at the same time closed herself in an ivory tower losing contact with reality and thus with many of her viewers.
Newburry / Thompson will be challenged and helped at the same time by Molly Patel (played by Mindy Kaling, the author of the script), a young beginner engaged in the team of text writers by an extraordinary chance – she was in the right place (the job interview chair) at the right time (exactly when Newburry is looking for a woman, preferably non-white, to improve the diversity of the team). Molly seems completely unfit for this position and for the professional and social environment she entered, but the relationship between the two women will evolve so that Molly’s unlimited and unmistakable admiration for Katherine will turn into mutual respect to the point that one becomes dependent of the other, and the new breath brought by Molly will change the tone and theme of the show, saving its existence. Foreseeable? It’s one of the movie’s problems.
Script author Mindy Kaling and director Nisha Ganatra (debuting in feature films for big screens) know the world of television well. Kaling, who also plays the role of the beginner text writer of Indian origin, brings elements of his own biography to the screen. Here we can find the source of the complexity of the problems raised by the film (I have listed only a part of them) but also the facility of the film solutions. The story on the screen unfolds in an ultra-predictable way. The real and interesting problems related to women discrimination and lack of diversity, the reverse ‘me-too’ story and the romantic episodes of the two women who are at the center of the story, all find quick and easy solutions, just like in the television comedy series, which should end in a given number of minutes with all the characters on screen happy. In addition we are dealing with excessive verbosity. That would not be a flaw in itself in this film that deals with television talk shows in which by definition there is a lot of talking, the problem is that the words put into the mouths of the characters are surprisingly banal and terribly conventional. ‘Late Night‘ is not a bad movie. It raises interesting problems, is acted by two excellent actresses helped by a good team around them. Unfortunately, my expectations were much higher and the film only responded to a small part of them.