We’d watched Won’t You Be My Neighbor not too long ago and loved it. This one is what would normally be called a biopic starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers and was just as well received. However it really isn’t about Rogers at all though one can take it as trying to depict his idealism. It seems that this was loosely based on a real magazine article and the experiences of the journalist therein but this film comes across as entirely too sweet and too fake to be convincing.

Lloyd Vogel is a journalist who has gained a reputation for being cynical towards his interview subjects. While dealing with a newborn baby, he also has deal with the attempts of his estranged father to reconnect with him, attempts which he violently rejects at every turn due due to his father’s abandonment of their family years ago. His editor assigns him to interview Fred Rogers which he regards as a puff piece unworthy of him. At first, he uses his usual cynical approach with Rogers, seeming to regard his friendly demeanor as a public face and is determined to drill underneath to get at the real person. He is also frustrated that Rogers seems more interested to asking about Vogel and his family than talking about himself. After speaking to Rogers’ wife, his manager and crew members, he slowly realizes that Rogers really is the person he presents himself as all the way down and that he has agreed to speak to Vogel only because he understands that Vogel is in distress and needs help.

As Vogel himself points out in this film, Rogers is essentially a living saint and finding something interesting to say about him without being critical and undermining his legend seems impossible. As this film sets out to prove that Rogers is indeed the real deal, it therefore tells the story from the point of view of someone who is skeptical and shows the process of him being won over. This is indeed a rather creative angle to take and that is to be commended. Unfortunately Vogel is a far less interesting character than Rogers and his story is the typical one that everyone already knows. This film offers almost nothing about Rogers, relegating him to the role of the infinitely wise mentor in the background. What’s more is that Matthew Rhys seems to struggle in his role as Vogel. While I liked him in The Americans, he affects exactly the same mannerisms and body language here. He overplays the world-weariness and so is unconvincing as a convert to Rogers’ idealism.

The film does have its charms. It’s hard to get carried along when the children sing to Rogers in the subway and the relationship Rogers has with his wife is endearing. But this characterization is superficial as the audience merely sees Rogers from a distance from Vogel’s point of view. It’s easy for Rogers to say that he has his bad moments too and has learned to deal with negative emotions by for example hammering the low-tone keys on his piano. But his sainthood is never sullied by Rogers having to actually describe what happened to him at his worst. What’s worse is that the film then plays up his mystique by for example having the entire restaurant seemingly fall silent when he asks Vogel to contemplate the people who love him for a minute. The film would have been better served if it showed Rogers actually having to struggle and strive to get through to people instead things simply falling into place for him as if by magic. Plus, what about Rogers’ staff who has to patiently wait while he indulges in his eccentricities? It’s sweet that he takes as much time as he needs to connect with little children but presumably his staff have families of their own they want to get back to after doing their jobs.

Apart from some cute moments and the novelty of seeing Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, this film has little redeeming value and is unworthy of Rogers’ legacy. The documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor is far superior in every respect and a big reason for that is that it featured interviews with his family members who are both more willing and have more standing to say that he was the perfect person everyone makes it out to be.