A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD *

I like Tom Hanks; in fact, I like Tom Hanks a lot. I even think that, at his best, he can be a great actor but I wanted to kill Forrest Gump and now, all these years later, I want to kill Fred Rogers, the character, indeed the real-life character, Hanks plays in Marielle Heller's "A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood". Mr Rogers, as he is known on American television, is one of those 'inspirational' TV hosts who teaches life lessons to children and shows them how to be 'nice' and apparently he's very good at it. In fact, he's something of a legend on American television. However, Heller's film isn't a biopic of Fred Rogers anymore than her "Can You Ever Forgive Me" was a biopic of Lee Israel. Rather it's the story of the friendship that developed between Rogers and the journalist Tom Junod, here renamed Lloyd Vogel and played by  Matthew Rhys and the film is as twee as I imagined it was going to be.

That said, Hanks is superb. He's Mr. Rogers down to the marrow but I still wanted to kill him, (not literally, I might add). Maybe I'm not that nice a person but I have an aversion to 'sweetness and light'. Now don't get me wrong; that's not to say I have an aversion to children and I think it's great when 'grown-ups' can put themselves into children's shoes and relate them on their level but as Jesus himself said, when I became a man I put away childish things and the last thing I want is to be talked down to by an adult like Fred Rogers. I am sure he is 'the nicest man on the planet' but I'm glad I don't know him.

Of course, Heller's movie isn't all 'sweetness and light'. Rhys' journalist certainly isn't the nicest man on the planet. He's ordinary and angry and cynical and he gets into fights and maybe he's someone I wouldn't like to know either but I bet I could get drunk with him and have an adult conversation with him and Rhys is very good in the role as is Chris Cooper as the father he doesn't get along with. These characters add a very welcome touch of bitter to the sweet and give the film a much-needed edge. But in the end, this is Hanks' movie; love him or hate him, there is just no getting away from him. Even when he's not on screen you can feel his presence and that's Hanks' gift. I don't think he will win the Oscar for this but if he does, I won't complain.