Director
Nisha Ganatra
(CAKE, CHUTNEY POPCORN, FAST FOOD HIGH)

Stars
Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, Denis O’Hare, Reid Scott, Hugh Dancy and John Lithgow

It’s a comedy, so let’s start with a useless piece of trivia. LATE NIGHT is Nisha Ganatra’s first feature film to not contain a food item or reference in its title. Fortunately, unlike my gag, this comedy is never lame, and it also boasts a fabulous performance (as expected) from Emma Thompson that truly deserves to be all the talk. In LATE NIGHT, Thompson plays Katherine Newbury, who is the centrepiece of her own long-running late night television talk show. To date, she has been incredibly successful and has no intentions of retiring. But that ultimate decision might soon be out of her hands when Katherine learns that she has no female writers and is advised that her ratings have been on a steady decline over several years. As she seeks to employ a female writer, could Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), a complete outsider with zero experience in television, but who is a big fan of the show and its host, help revamp or even save Katherine’s show?

Comedy can and ought to be so much more than just simply being funny. Of course, in order for a comedy to be genuinely classified this way and successful in this genre, provoking some form of laughter and/or amusement from its audience is a prerequisite. Thankfully, this director’s first feature film in almost 15 years is a solid example of how comedy can be cleverly utilised to observe and ridicule a vast array of contemporary issues. The screenplay, which is written by LATE NIGHT co-star Mindy Kaling, addresses social matters such as gender inequality and race in a sharp and truthful manner that I found engaging. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately for most), it never gets too into the nuts and bolts of its issues, but it does borrow well from its characterisation, wit and acting to extract humour from it all.

The only time I felt less engaged to the film was mostly during its first half, when more time is slotted to specific co-stars that comprise of the writing team behind the talk show. They can only add so much value and some are rather annoying. Especially when in comparison to this Cruella de Vil of late night TV! This performance from Emma Thompson (who, coincidentally, has a starring role in an upcoming live-action prequel film that follows a young Cruella de Vil!) ought to and (I believe) will earn her a Golden Globe nomination.

3 ½ stars

Viewer Discretion
M (Coarse language and sexual references)