07-13-2020, 07:10 AM
I swore DM already posted a review for this but maybe it's lost in the bowels of another review?
ABDitN is about so much more than Mr. Rodgers. First off, Perry Mason is the star and it focuses on him. (Since I'm probably the only watching Perry Mason on HBO, it's Matthew Rhys) And between the two shows, I think Perry is incapable of shaving although the etched lines in his face are much less pronounced in ABDitN.
Perry is a reporter tasked with doing basically a puff piece about Fred Rodgers for Esquire Magazine. Perry balks. Perry is an investigative journalist. He does hard hitting reporting. But he's hit people too hard and no one wants to talk to him so do the puff piece to keep working. But that's just the start, Perry is dealing with a lot of personal issues of his own which through the interview with Mr. Rodgers come to the fore.
See, Mr. Rodgers doesn't care so much about Mr. Rodgers he cares about everyone around him. So, Perry's cynicism goes head to head with Rodger's humanism and gets crushed. It's a very predictable story but it is really well done. Yes, bits and pieces of Rodgers actual story are dropped in to let us know something about the man, some of it quite surprising, but it's mostly about learning to be a better person through Rodger's lessons with Perry as the case study.
And that's kind of how the whole movie is structured, you are in a Mr. Rodger's episode and today we are talking about Perry. All the intercuts use the models from the Mr. Rodgers show so when you go to New York you go to a model fo New York as if it were designed for the Mr. Rodgers show.
There is even a weird dream sequence in the middle that is quite trippy.
I liked it. It was very well done. It's a straight ahead story but tells the story in a surprising way. But in the end it just seems like the perfect way to tell the story.
No swords fights. No Charlize Theron monologuing about her ennui. To be honest, I was never a Mr. Rodgers fan. It all seems too simple and childish but after watching the show, I might have to reevaluate. But no, I won't be watching any of those episodes.
ABDitN is about so much more than Mr. Rodgers. First off, Perry Mason is the star and it focuses on him. (Since I'm probably the only watching Perry Mason on HBO, it's Matthew Rhys) And between the two shows, I think Perry is incapable of shaving although the etched lines in his face are much less pronounced in ABDitN.
Perry is a reporter tasked with doing basically a puff piece about Fred Rodgers for Esquire Magazine. Perry balks. Perry is an investigative journalist. He does hard hitting reporting. But he's hit people too hard and no one wants to talk to him so do the puff piece to keep working. But that's just the start, Perry is dealing with a lot of personal issues of his own which through the interview with Mr. Rodgers come to the fore.
See, Mr. Rodgers doesn't care so much about Mr. Rodgers he cares about everyone around him. So, Perry's cynicism goes head to head with Rodger's humanism and gets crushed. It's a very predictable story but it is really well done. Yes, bits and pieces of Rodgers actual story are dropped in to let us know something about the man, some of it quite surprising, but it's mostly about learning to be a better person through Rodger's lessons with Perry as the case study.
And that's kind of how the whole movie is structured, you are in a Mr. Rodger's episode and today we are talking about Perry. All the intercuts use the models from the Mr. Rodgers show so when you go to New York you go to a model fo New York as if it were designed for the Mr. Rodgers show.
There is even a weird dream sequence in the middle that is quite trippy.
I liked it. It was very well done. It's a straight ahead story but tells the story in a surprising way. But in the end it just seems like the perfect way to tell the story.
No swords fights. No Charlize Theron monologuing about her ennui. To be honest, I was never a Mr. Rodgers fan. It all seems too simple and childish but after watching the show, I might have to reevaluate. But no, I won't be watching any of those episodes.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm