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A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD – I’m not sure what I was expecting from this film. I guess more insight into Fred Rogers’ personal life and the affect his show had on millions of kids who grew up with Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. I was not one of those kids. Neither were my kids. I always felt the show was boring and mundane. I didn’t connect with it at all. So I was eager for this film to help me understand what exactly made his juvenile viewers seem enamored with him, even after they grew up. I still don’t know, although as an adult I can better appreciate that for some kids it must have been an anchor in a chaotic world. None of the peeps wanted to watch this movie, so you have only my commentary today. Tom Hanks was great as Mr. Rogers – at least so far as I can tell from the limited clips I have seen of Mr. Rogers and his program over the years. The film’s story is supposedly true about Mr. Rogers’ encounter with an adult reporter doing a magazine piece about the man and his show. Of course, the reporter has father issues and a smug regard for Mr. Rogers. The predictable turn-around in perspective occurs by the end of the film, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about any of it. And the arc of the reporter’s character sort of went nowhere. For most of the film he doesn’t buy into the Rogers’ magic, then suddenly he does. It all felt contrived, boring and long. Worse, I didn’t learn anything new about Mr. Rogers or his program. I’m just as perplexed at his popularity now as I was before. I actually gained more insight watching Kidding – Jim Carrey’s show which is supposedly loosely based on Mr. Rogers and his Neighborhood. And I’m not crazy about that show either. The film does include Chris Cooper whose work you already know I admire. Beyond that there is not much to see here. Mr. Rogers fans will love him still, and the rest of us remain perplexed. Zero toasts, zero boyfriends, zero girlfriends.