Late Night Movie Review

Late Night (2019)

Rent Late Night on Amazon Video
Written by: Mindy Kaling (screenplay by)
Directed by: Nisha Ganatra
Starring: Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow, Hugh Dancy, Denis O'Hare, Max Casella, John Early
Rated: R
Watch the trailer

Plot
A late night talk show host suspects that she may soon lose her long-running show and hires a female staff writer.

Verdict
This isn't much different from a rom-com formula with the job itself and various people filling in as the love interest. Frequently this felt too simplistic and the punch lines forced. Emma Thompson's character is so unlikable it detracts from the movie. That may be closer to fact than fiction with talk show hosts, but this movie felt more like fantasy than reality as rom-coms often do.
It depends.

Review
This is an opposites attract rom-com. Instead of Molly (Mindy Kaling) matching with an individual it's Katherine's show, Katherine, and the other writers. It has the awkward first date, the breakup, and the reconciliation.
It's a great use of the formula and even provides a bit of depth criticizing Hollywood's white male standard.

Mindy Kaling and Emma Thompson play Molly and Katherine.

It's a bit too simplistic and silly. Katherine (Emma Thompson) is a jerk. It's off-putting as she's intolerable. She dehumanizes the writers by assigning them numbers in lieu of their names. She cares about no one except herself, and I wanted her show to get canceled. I assume Katherine is presented that way so we root for Molly, but I don't know why we can root for both, other than this is a rom-com trope of opposites attract.

I didn't want Katherine to have a heel turn by the end, but even if this is an accurate portrayal of late night hosts, it's detrimental to this movie. I'm rooting for Molly to help someone I don't like. What's the point? The social commentary mocks how terrible it is for white men in the world of television when Molly's hire threatens them. It shouldn't and that's the point.
Molly speaks up and is told to be quiet because she's new. That's something to which anyone can relate. When the show is on the verge of being canceled, any idea is worth introducing.

This is cookie cutter and sometimes over the top. There's the time honored classic joke of a man thinking Molly is there to take his order. Plenty of the scenes don't feel authentic, included just for the joke or an attempt at a joke.

Molly establishes herself as beyond competent and turns the show around. Molly is fired to set up the end run of the movie, and it seems strange because she is devastated at being fired but had earlier quit and had no issue with that.

There's a bit of economic divide between Katherine and everyone else, but that isn't explored after being introduced. The entire movie balances on the frosty narcissist just so we can get a big reveal that she's changed. The plot is too formulaic.