Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson lay on the charm in 'Late Night'

Late Night

Binge a season of television all in one sitting

If you want to sell an independent movie, the one thing you absolutely need is goodwill. The box office landscape has never been more hostile to original concepts, especially comedies, rendering every project into a little-engine-that-could. These movies don't need fans, they need advocates, people who can start the word of mouth virality needed to succeed.

With that in mind, I suppose it's not altogether surprising that the buzziest project coming out of the Sundance Film Festival was one centered on the lack of diversity in a high profile industry like late night television, written by and starring Mindy Kaling--from the beloved and still wildly popular sitcom "The Office"--alongside the universally adored Emma Thompson. This thing had Heisenburg blue-colored, 97% pure levels of goodwill. Amazon created headlines by purchasing it for $13 million, one of the highest sums in Sundance history.

Looking at Late Night as a "movie," in the traditional sense, it appears to be a big gamble. But after sitting through perhaps the least cinematic "movie" experience of my life, I think it's more appropriate to call this what it is: a 100-minute piece of content.

Welcome to the streaming wars. Here battles are waged over attention, and the lines between movies and television have completely blurred. Episodes of "Game of Thrones" run over 90 minutes on HBO, while Danny Glover's one-off Guava Island lasts just 55 minutes on Amazon. And what do we call the 15 minute segments of Tim Robinson's "I Think You Should Leave" on Netflix?

Late Night unfolds like the CliffsNotes version of an entire season of television. It's shot like a sitcom, its narrative progresses episodically like a sitcom, and the comedic timing very much resembles a sitcom as well. It's characters start very broad and easily identifiable (like a sitc--oh by now you get the point) and develop into more nuanced versions of themselves. Earnest, optimistic, naive Molly (Kaling) comes to work for vicious, tortured genius Katherine (Thompson) and the merry band of white frat bros who compose her writers' room. Molly becomes less naive, Katherine becomes less vicious, and the frat bros become slightly less frat bro-ish. None of this is particularly surprising, since Kaling cut her teeth writing many hilarious episodes of "The Office" and then running her own sitcom on Hulu, "The Mindy Project."

Unlike the many behind-the-scenes showbiz movies that came before it (several of which are mentioned below), this movie cares less about the technical machinations of creating a television show and more about the relationship between Kaling and Thompson. Taking a step back, their arc very much resembles the traditional romantic comedy: a meet cute, initial iciness, falling in love but not realizing it, realizing they're in love, a break-up and a get back together. It just happens to be contained within a mentor-mentee framework.

The central conflict is a network wanting to take Thompson off the air because she's not producing the kind of memeable content necessary to excel in the internet age. It's an age-old tale. In fact, the essential struggle of show business--giving people what they need versus what they want, vegetables versus candy--exists on the big screen for every generation. Good Night, and Good Luck showed Edward R. Murrow's battle in the '50s, Network showed the 70s, Broadcast News had the 80s, the late night wars of the 90s between Letterman and Leno popped up in The Late Shift, Anchorman parodied the concept the '00s, and Late Night tackled it today.

The comparisons to a sticom sound more damning than they really are. Months from now, maybe even years from now, someone will throw this piece of content on their TV (or their interactive glasses, or their brain chip, whatever we're using then) and have a thoroughly good time. If Amazon wants to compete with Netflix, they need to keep building up their library with pieces of content exactly like this. It's witty, charming, and pushes a socially progressive message without coming across as antagonistic.

It's funny too, up to a point. Smaller personal moments drew the biggest laughs in my screening, but this movie fell victim to one of the most common and most difficult challenges in scriptwriting. How do you make comedy performed on stage or on screen, professional comedy, actually funny? It's very tough, because audiences are not primed for comedy in that form, and if it's NOT funny then you have a fundamental character problem. Emma Thompson is an incredible actor, and gives her character life and depth and complex emotion, but she's not a laugh manufacturer in the way needed to really pull of her bits as a successful late night host.

Still, it's definitely worth watching. I'd tell you to go see Late Night in the theater, but there's no need. You can binge the whole season in a tidy 100 minutes when it comes available on Amazon Prime in a few short months. Enjoy!

Subscriber Says

From Justin in Chicago, after I suggested streaming Jersey Boys in last week's Rocketman newsletter:
"As someone who grew up a bridge away from New Jersey, I’ve always been a huge fan of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. A few years ago I learned I actually had a personal connection to the group. My best friend happens to be the grandson of Jack Spector, a famous New York City radio disc jockey, who was good friends with longtime Four Seasons producer Bob Crewe. When the group came up with a song called "Terry," Crewe loved the tune, but hated the moniker. So, as a nod to his good friend, he changed the name of the song to "Sherry" after Spector's daughter, Cheri (my best friend's aunt). The song became one of their biggest hits."

See any movies you loved or hated recently? New or old! Reply to this email and tell me about it. You could be featured in next week's review!

Something New

The Chef Show (Netflix): I, like everyone else, love to throw on a bite-sized show at the end of a long, tiring day of unemployment (kidding, but not really). The 2014 film Chef starring Jon Favreau and loosely based on the life of LA-based chef Roi Choi (of Kogi fame) is delightfully facile, and the absolute best part about it was how realistically and joyously it portrayed professional cooking on screen. This show dispenses with the narrative and gives us a concentrated dose of the good stuff: Favreau and Choi in the kitchen cooking food. RIDICULOUS food. Like the most delicious-looking food I've ever seen. This show completely ditches relatability, the cooking show trope that "you can make this at home if you try!" You can't. Choi's ability to cook is literally a superpower. And yet this show has inspired me to start cooking and experimenting in the kitchen! Which, now that I think about it, is creating the feedback loop that is leaving my unemployed-self tired on the couch at night wanting to watch this show on Netflix. Wow. They got me.

Aladdin (Theaters): Can we please have a discussion about what constitutes an "animated" movie? Because I was led to believe the only reason this remake of the 1992 Disney animated version existed was to recreate it in "live action." And sure, there are actual human actors this time, but I would guess 70% of the movie is computer-generated imagery (CGI). That's a conservative estimate. The story is the same as the original, the songs are the same (with the addition of one cringe-worthy empowerment anthem), and the unimpeachable Robin Williams performance has been replaced by a respectably inferior Will Smith. Which makes me wonder...if this movie is just a beat-for-beat "animated" remake of a still-watchable animated classic, why on earth does it exist? Oh, right, money. A lot of money. Like over $600 million worldwide already. Wellp, guess I'll see you in a couple weeks for a live action Lion King...and next year for Mulan and 101 Dalmations...and I'm sure like a dozen others to come.

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Season 2 (Netflix): Okay one more, because this relates to our theme this week of late night television and because I would be shaming my degree from Ball State University if I did not mention the new season of alum David Letterman's talk show. I really enjoyed season one, but the first three episodes of season two--Kanye West, Ellen DeGeneres and Tiffany Haddish--take the show to a new level. It's more revealing, more authentic, and more confrontational (in a good way) than the first collection of long form interviews with the uber-famous. The production team seems to have finally found its ideal form by combining the on-stage sit down interview with more natural interactions at the subject's homes and work. Chirp chirp, go Cardinals.

Something Old

Network (1976, on Netflix!): "TV is showbiz, Max," says Fay Dunaway's character. "Even the news has to have a little showmanship." Of all the movies depicting television broadcasters' desire to "sell out," none are as sharp and biting as this classic directed by Sidney Lumet, which earned four Oscars. The story is so heightened it could be considered a parody if it didn't ring so true, both in 1976 and today. In the sensationalist broadcasting era we currently live, this should be required viewing.

Broadcast News (1987): Few movies are as infinitely rewatchable as this James L. Brooks drama-dy about a fiesty news producer (Holly Hunter) caught in a professional and personal love triangle between a charismatic yet simple anchor (William Hurt) and a sharp challenger who can't perform under the bright lights (Albert Brooks). It's smart, snappy, and has something to say about the zero sum game of stardom and the struggle between vegetables and candy. As a cherry on top, there's a legendary drop-in from Jack Nicholson flying off the top rope for like five minutes. Trust me. "I say it here it comes out there!"

Something to Stream

The Late Shift (HBO): Everything I know about the infamous "late night wars" between David Letterman and Jay Leno comes from this movie. Well and, I guess, the corresponding Wikipedia page. But this HBO film walks you through their whole relationship, from up-and-coming friends fighting to replace Johnny Carson through their dueling shows on NBC and CBS. It's not to be confused with high class, capital C "Cinema," but it's both entertaining and interesting. Much of what late night TV is in 2019 is because of these events, and much of what Late Night became is because of this movie.

Good Night, and Good Luck (Netflix): The ol' boys club that Late Night comments on is personified in this 2005 movie directed by George Clooney about Edward R. Murrow's takedown of Joseph McCarthy in the early 1950s. The word "prescient" gets thrown around far too often about movies and shows these days, but a movie that's about a politician calling reporting fake news and feuding with broadcasters who are out to prove that politician's lies might be what one would call prescient in the year of our Lord two thousand and nineteen. The cast includes Clooney, Jeff Daniels and Robert Downey Jr. before he strapped on the cape, plus about a dozen other "that guys." Unfortunately, as with most of Clooney's directorial adventures, the storytelling rarely matches the suburb vibe of his films.

Trailer Watch: The Dead Don't Die

No joke, it was really tough having to choose between Late Night and The Dead Don't Die this week for the newsletter. Both movies release semi-wide this weekend, and though I picked Late Night I was equally excited to check out this zombie comedy starring Adam Driver, Bill Murray, and need I say more...Selena Gomez, Tom Waits, Chloe Sevigny, Danny Glover, RZA, and more!

Most of these are collaborators with legacy filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, who hasn't churned out many commercial hits but is a favorite among a certain class of film lover who broadcasts his or her opinions on Twitter (you know who you are). All I know is the zombie genre is ripe for parody, and by the looks of the trailer, this movie is going to be hilarious. Check out the trailer now, then maybe watch Selena Gomez choke down impossibly hot chicken wings to pass the time before you check in here next Friday morning for a review of The Dead Don't Die.

Trivia Question of the Week

One of the stars in the handful of movies I recommended this week has also starred in a superhero movie that grossed over $1 billion at the box office, released on this very weekend last year. Can you name him or her?

Reply to this email with your answers!