Starring: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Paul Walter Hauser, Denis O’Hare, Max Casella
Director: Nisha Ganatra
Release date: 7th June 2019
Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is a British host on a well respected late night talk show in the US. She has been doing it for 28 years and everyone loves her. One day, one of her writers comes asking for a pay rise but he is immediately sacked from his position. Katherine runs her show with cold military precision and has a staff of male writers to think up new ideas and skits for the show. One of the head guys on the show suggests that she get a female writer on board to at least slightly balance the output from the writers as a whole. She doesn’t appear too bothered but they interview for the position to see what they can find. Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) is a huge fan of Katherine’s show and a budding stand-up performer. She works in a chemical plant and has absolutely no writing experience whatsoever but still she decides to apply for the writer vacancy. They desperately want a female on the staff and Molly is the only female applicant so she is hired. Not long after, Katherine is told that she is going to be replaced by a much younger, male host. The news devastates her… she must try and find a way of becoming relevant again and save her job.
‘Late Night’ is all in all a brilliantly funny comedy. If you love Emma Thompson as an actress then you won’t be in any way disappointed with her performance in this. While watching the film it’s very easy to start thinking about what other actresses could have done the same job just as well and to be honest, there are very few that could fill those shoes.
The trailer for the film doesn’t really do it the justice that it deserves. A well written and acted comedy with a great cast of characters, ‘Late Night’ is definitely one to watch if you’re looking for an intelligent comedy that doesn’t have to try too hard. There’s no real belly laughs but it’s very entertaining and funny, and that’s pretty much all you really need! Go see it and your time will have been spent wisely. 🙂
Overall: 8/10
