SOMETIMES, THE BEST WAY to tell one story is by telling a different story. That’s what happens in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

In 1998, the editor of Esquire asked a particularly cynical reporter to do a short piece on Fred Rogers, aka “Mr. Rogers” for a segment on heroes. The interviews with Mr. Rogers changed the writer. The short piece changed into a full-length cover story and one of the most popular magazine pieces of the year (https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a27134/can-you-say-hero-esq1198/). 

Tom Hanks “became” Fred Rogers, and Jonathan Rhys (from The Americans) killed it playing Lloyd Vogel, the angry, edgy journalist.

This movie made me want a “do-over” of at least a decade in my life. A lot of people are kind, but there are special people–the other saints–who spread kindness with the same unrelenting constancy that, a day at a time, turns rocky shorelines into soft beaches.

The movie is hope-giving and restorative at an important time in history. See the film and have a beautiful day.

WRH