Late Night (2019)
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Late Night Movie Review
Late Night is a 2019 comedy film directed by Nisha Ganatra and starring Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling. It’s an okay movie that should have been much better.
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“This show is my life so fuck you for giving it up“
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A late-night talk show host’s world is turned upside down when she hires her first and only female staff writer. Originally intended to smooth over diversity concerns, her decision brings about unexpectedly hilarious consequences as the two women who are separated by culture and generation become united by their love of a biting punchline.
So obviously the film is very relevant for today’s political climate in the US and especially the politically correct period of Hollywood. However, the movie never really tackled these complex issues properly, though it wasn’t too one-sided either which I appreciated it.
I really enjoyed the first act here. Everything in its first half an hour was very well done. In particular, the humor was excellent and some lines really made me chuckle. The main character is hilarious, the situations and scenarios are amusing and the character interactions are solid.
But then everything changed when the film became a predictable mess. The third is act is overly typical for this type of movies, especially romantic comedies by which it was inspired, and I don’t like that genre so that bothered me. And the second act is simply a mess with too many underdeveloped, rushed and not properly executed plot points as well as conversation points.
The movie should have been much smarter is what I’m trying to say. It also should have been better developed in the Mindy Kaling character. She is good in her role as she usually is, but the character herself is so underdeveloped, so dull and so passive that the movie as a whole suffered as a result as she’s so important to the plot.
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The men overall are solid, some are even quite amusing in their toxic masculinity and fear of losing their jobs. But the highlight of the movie is easily Emma Thompson who got to play such a fun, frequently even hilarious, bitchy character that was perfectly suited for her talents. Her delivery here is top-notch and her entire performance is fantastic.
Emma Thompson shines as the main character in Late Night. Her performance is fantastic expectedly so, and her delivery of every line and insult is top-notch. The first act overall is very amusing. However, everything that came afterwards was unfortunately very messy, uninspired, predictable and not sophisticated enough for this particular script that needed much more nuance and bite to it. Mindy Kaling’s character is also underdeveloped to a fault.
