Tom Hanks delivers the goods as Mr. Rogers in ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’

Tom Hanks does not disappear into his role in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.” That sort of vanishing act is the province of only a very few actors. Daniel Day Lewis and Christian Bale come to mind.

No, as he plays Fred Rogers in “Neighborhood,” you’re never not aware that, “Hey! That’s Tom Hanks up there playing Fred Rogers.”

It’s a very mannered performance, with Rogers’ gentle smile, his self-effacing demeanor and particularly his slow deliberate speech pattern (there’s just the slightest trace of Forrest Gump detectable there) captured with precision. Hanks is rather more portly than Rogers was, a fact emphasized by the brief film clip of the man himself shown during the closing credits.

That said, Hanks is also the perfect person to play Fred Rogers.

Who better than the actor whose most memorable roles are portrayals of men of decency: Jim Lovell in “Apollo 13,” Captain Miller in “Saving Private Ryan,” Captain Richard Phillips in “Captain Phillips,” Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in “Sully” (Maybe a pattern there?).

He’s a reassuring presence on screen: solid, capable, thoughtful. All qualities Rogers had in spades. All touchingly manifested in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”

Hanks’ Rogers is above all a most empathetic individual. An encounter with a sickly agitated child on the set of the long-running “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” show finds the boy, an oxygen tube attached to his nose, wildly swinging a toy sword as his parents look on in distress. Rogers kneels down looks him directly in the eye and gently, patiently, calms him with soothing words, and ultimately, the sword put aside, hugs him.

It’s the Rogers way. The calmness, the nonjudgmental way he interacts with children, his attentiveness to their concerns and fears, and above all the patience he brings to his encounters, are all embodied by Hanks.

The story of “Neighborhood” centers around a journalist named Lloyd Vogel (Matthew Rhys) assigned by Esquire magazine to write a short Rogers profile as part of a series of pieces on heroes. Vogel is a cynical cuss, a prize-winning investigative journalist none too pleased to have to do what he perceives to be a puff piece about the host of “a hokey kids show.” <<<CAN CUT>>>When his wife Andrea (Susan Kelechi Watson) learns of his assignment, and knowing his starchiness all too well, she quietly implores him, “Please don’t ruin my childhood.”<<<END CUT>>>

Turns out Rogers is very well aware of Vogel’s reputation. Turns out he’s most eager to meet him because of it. Turns out he wishes to befriend Vogel because in the tone of his writing Rogers detects that there is something troubling him and Rogers hopes to help. Turns out he’s right. Vogel has anger issues with respect to his dad Jerry (Chris Cooper), a long-absent father who behaved terribly toward Lloyd and his mother in the writer’s youth. Lloyd’s anger is deep-rooted and, when he gives vent to it, impels him to violence.

The character of Lloyd is based on a real-life writer named Tom Junod on whose 1998 Esquire article “Can You Say... Hero?” the script by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster is based. Under the direction of Marielle Heller, the picture shades toward the soap opera side of things with Rhys going full-bore on the raspy curmudgeonliness and overboard on the father despising. He’s also struggling to be a good dad himself (he has an infant son) and a good husband to his wife, who has put her career aside to raise their baby.

But the essence is Rogers, pulling from Vogel disclosures on the source of his distress. When Vogel says he finds Rogers to be drawn to “broken people” like himself, Rogers replies, “I don’t think you’re broken.”

Watching Rogers interact with others and seeing how he meets people without judging them, Vogel is moved and begins to feel healed.

Rogers’ effect on people is captured in a scene in which a whole subway car full of New Yorkers, including cops, serenades the man by singing the show’s theme song. He is slightly abashed but also delighted. Everyone knows and loves Mr. Rogers.

It’s a lovely defining moment. The world today sorely needs more of Rogers’ kind-hearted decency.

“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”

3 stars

Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper, Maryann Plunkett.

Director: Marielle Heller

Running time: 1:47

Rated: PG for some strong thematic material, a brief fight and some mild language.

This story was originally published November 21, 2019 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Tom Hanks delivers the goods as Mr. Rogers in ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’."