“Katherine Newbury.”

From Late Night.

Late night talk show host Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is smart, witty, sarcastic, and incredibly difficult to work for.  When Katherine decides that her writing staff (which includes Reid Scott, Hugh Dancy, Max Casella, Paul Walter Hauser, and John Early) needs to have a woman on it her producer, Brad (Denis O’Hare) hires the only female applicant, the totally unprepared and under-qualified Molly (Mindy Kaling).  Molly is thrilled to have a job, not only in the late night comedy world, but also at the show she’s grown up faithfully watching.  However, when the new network president (Amy Ryan) informs Katherine that she is going to be replaced as host with a young standup comedian (Ike Barinholtz) because of a decade of declining ratings, it sends the host and crew trying to turn the show around.  Desperate to write material that will boost ratings and secure her job, the writers scramble for new ideas, but all suggestions are shut down while Katherine grows more and more difficult to work for, with only her ailing husband (John Lithgow) seeming to be able to calm her down.  Feeling out of place as a new writer and the only female, Molly finally decides to take it upon herself to step up and provide some comedic ideals that could save not only her job but the show as well; the more that Molly pushes for Katherine to return to content that is important and funny to her, the more the other writers begin to do the same, creating a hilarious atmosphere that Katherine hasn’t experienced in years.

This comedy centered around the humor, drama, and processes of late night television strives desperately to be full of heart, and for the most part, it succeeds.  Kaling and Thompson lead well together, playing off each other with their naivety and experience, respectively.  The humor is genuine and witty which combines perfectly with the main storyline; the secondary storyline struggles to get off the ground completely, but overall, Late Night is a hilarious look at unexpected friendship.

| Rated: R | Running Time: 102 minutes |Genre: comedy/drama/romance |

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 5* of 10|Nudity: 0 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 0 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|