Late Night (Blu-ray) (2019)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy / Drama	Featurette-Making Of-3 Interviews-Cast & Crew
Rating
Year Of Production	2019
Running Time	101:41
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Nisha Ganatra
Studio Distributor	Filmation Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Emma Thompson Mindy Kaling John Lithgow
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Lesley Barber

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    It is an interesting phenomenon that seemingly there has never been a US late night show hosted by a woman, lots of Daves or Johnnys but no Katherines or Elizabeths. This film, Late Night, seeks to address that but in fiction rather than the real world. It makes the interesting choice not to show the obvious story of how she struggled in a male dominated world to get the gig but rather tells her story after her career has peaked and is struggling to hold onto her job due to poor ratings. The late show host in question is Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) and her show has become stale with her all male writers' room no longer delivering and her arrogance getting in the way of changing anything. Her husband, Walter (John Lithgow) is very unwell but is one of the few people prepared to tell her the truth.

    As the movie opens, she is told she needs to hire some more diversity into her team who are all middle aged white men. Acting expediently, Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling) is hired despite her lack of writing experience and soon starts to shake up the team despite opposition from the men and from Katherine herself. Soon Katherine is informed by the head of the network that this will be her last season. Can Katherine get past her ego, see her own faults and team up with Molly to save the show and her career?

    Emma Thompson is the star here and has subsequently been nominated for a Best Actress - Musical or Comedy Golden Globe. Her performance carries the movie with her main co-star Mindy Kaling pulling double duty as actress and writer. It is a good film, enjoyable and entertaining but one that doesn't really leave a lasting impression, certainly not enough to make you want to watch it more than once. It is amusing, dramatic when necessary, generally well acted and tells a different story and certainly one that avoids an obvious diversity mantra. It falls somewhat short though in actually delivering a compelling story. It did reasonably well at the box office taking over $20m globally on a $4m budget.

   Worth a look especially for fans of Emma Thompson.

Video

    The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio in 1080p. The film was shot digitally and looks good, with good colour and clarity (for a Blu-ray). There are no issues to report and the presentation perfectly suits the material which certainly doesn't require a 4K release (which is lucky because it didn't get one).

    There are subtitles available in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS HD-MA 5.1 and a descriptive audio track in DTS HD-MA 2.0. This is a dialogue focused film and the dialogue is well presented here with good clarity and no real need for subtitles unless you are hearing impaired. The main other components of the soundtrack are music which comes across well and atmospherics which use the surround speakers and subwoofer.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menu is still and silent.

Women in Comedy (4:04)

    A short featurette on the themes and issues in the film featuring scenes from the film and interview segments.

Making of (3:36)

Inside the Writers Room (3:48)

Cast Interview (5:05)

    As far as I can gather this film has not been released on Blu-ray in the US but is available on Amazon Prime. The only release listed on US Amazon is the UK DVD edition. Buy local.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall