The Clubhouse Podcast

Home Show Late Night

April 30, 2019 Season 9, Episode 43

Rob, Don, and Alex review the film Late Night, starring Emma Thompson as Catherine Newbury, a veteran late-night talk show host, and Mindy Kaling as Molly Patel, an inexperienced writer hired to boost declining ratings. The hosts discuss the film's dramedy tone, its subtle themes about gender equality in the workplace, and strong performances from Thompson and John Lithgow, though they note the plot is predictable and some subplots feel unresolved.

About this episode

Key takeaways

  • Late Night blends comedy with serious dramatic moments rather than being purely comedic
  • Emma Thompson and John Lithgow deliver strong chemistry and performances
  • The film explores Catherine's evolution from hiring a woman for optics to understanding the human dimension of workplace change
  • The plot is predictable, but the journey matters more than the destination
  • Mindy Kaling's writing is witty throughout, drawing from her own experiences as a passion project

Q&A

What is the premise of Late Night?

A veteran British late-night talk show host with declining ratings hires an inexperienced female writer from a chemical plant to help boost her show.

What themes does the film explore?

The film subtly addresses gender equality in the workplace and professional settings, showing Catherine's evolution from seeing a female hire as optics to understanding the human aspect.

Would the hosts recommend seeing this in theaters?

No—both hosts suggest streaming it or catching it on TV rather than paying full theatrical price, as it doesn't demand the big-screen experience.

Read Transcript

Do you have any left? Is he over the left? Greetings and Pire Member and or Members.

If you are hearing the sound of my voice currently, you are greatly appreciated. Use your part of the Clubhouse Podcast Empire. The Clubhouse Podcasts are one stop shop for all things pop culture, live every Sunday nights, 7 Eastern 4 Pacific on the VocalNow Network, be OKALNow.com, bookmarketing your favorite browser, download the VocalNow app, listen to all the great content, and there's some for everybody on the VocalNow Network and somehow they think we fit into that picture, so we're good with it.

Because it's time for another home show, it's a really wild home show. Number 466 for those of you playing the home game. Welcome.

My name is Rob, I am the Executive Producer of the Clubhouse Podcast, and I am an unapologetic fan of David Letterman. Always happen. Although I haven't checked out his Netflix show, I probably should do that.

The second season just dropped. But I'm not alone for this sitting in the co-host chair. He's a man who has spent many late nights in his life, but none recently.

He is Alex. Welcome, sir. Yeah, she'd probably kill me for that one.

Yeah. Rounding out the days, is the official fact checker of this show? Well, the man was, he's, he's a strange man.

You may know him as Igboonoo, but his mom and him down for what I'm going to call him down for what's going on. He, he called me Ed. Ed McMan.

Johnny Carson. Ed. See, but I will give him partial credit because I really thought you were going to car and act that entrance.

What was that? The answer is, what was, what was your weird stuff? There's Johnny!

Oh, yeah. I was a little bit of a drying joke there Ed. Old dry.

Yes, sir. Very not funny. He could be the conductor guy.

What was his name? That would be Doc Severin, Sin? Come, Doc.

I'm the greatest trumpet players. It's ever walked the face of God's green earth. I forgot to see him off the top of my head.

Whenever we do one of these it is to review something and this is no exception. Emma Thompson Mindy Kling. It's late night.

For us at this whole thing. Yeah, sure. We got to thank Brad here.

We have fans PR for the invite. We love our vendors. They take care of us.

I let us see me. I saw this one a long time ago for you before you all did and we can see movies in advance so that we can talk to you guys about them so you can make the best possible decisions for your entertainment dollar. So Mindy Kling wrote this and She wrote Emma Thompson's role for her.

Emma Thompson plays Catherine Newbury. She is a British late-night talk show host in America. She's been on the air for almost 30 years and The ratings are kind of dwindling.

So She decides that the best way to do this is to hire a female writer for her writing staff Whose things for the most part? She doesn't even know. She kind of lives in her own bubble with her husband played by the great John Lithgown So in a strange happenstance Mindy Kling's character Molly Patel Wines up on the writing staff who has no experience.

She is a quality inspector at a chemical plant not a factory and Catherine finds out that she may lose her show Because the ratings are not doing well. It's not it's not tracking well. The guess she's booking are not People that people technically want to see He's also in this max Kasella is also in this who will always be Vinny Delpino from Doogie Houser for me Paul Walter Houser a guy that has been getting a lot of work as of late playing the same character But I'm okay with it because he's brilliant at it Luke Slattery's in this Ike Baron Holtz is in this.

He's not playing dang cook. He's playing dang cook uh Amy Ryan is in this as well This this runs about an hour forty-five I will say this this movie is not necessarily a comedy It is definitely in the dramedy department Because there are some very intense sequences in this But I've really enjoyed this film overall I thought Kaling does some great writing as she always does. I'm a big fan of Mindy Kaling There are some very witty parts to this and kudos to fawns at the screening I went to There was a very key moment which I was told was not planned this way But there was a very key moment in the film where they packed passed out cupcakes Which I found to be very very well done.

I was like we do any time that it just kind of worked out I'm like no take the credit. Yeah, but I think this is a smart film There are some parallels to some real-life storylines in this That made me go oh they took it there um Lithgow is Nothing short of brilliant in this for the small role that he has as her husband who is dealing with his own issues Hmm he is Rock solid in this and their chemistry. I thought was really really strong Well, he is a charming man and he always does that.

Yeah. Yeah. I just I really enjoyed this film I really really did There it there's a there's a couple of subplots that get a little weird for me Because I don't know that they really truly resolve themselves in a way that I would think they would but That's my issue more than theirs Now Don I know you saw this.

Yeah, I did mm-hmm. I Went in with an open mind on this thing. Am I the target audience now?

I spare um, but so we've done I hate say word chick flicks. We've done a few of those And we went in and say hey, we enjoyed it. I was funny and stuff like that My thing is yes, there's a couple good comedy points on this And I think they're trying to put this as a comedy That I think they're trying to promote it more as a comedy than anything Okay, but it like you said I agree with you.

You get some very serious issues on this My my thing is with this is that the comedy attempts doesn't make up for the plot which is in my humble opinion Very very very very very very very predictable And I don't think that the comedy in this made up for the very predictability of this film But I think there's a subliminal which I put in my written view at www that's called us podcast.com. That's our website I put on there that There's I think a lot of subliminal Points they're trying to make in this film not they don't port it out but very subtly in this film and I think that they were trying to make A point of gender quality in this film. I could see that definitely very subtly But they put it all the way throughout on this and I get the point.

I believe in the quality I believe that Everybody should be treated equal and they have made steps But I think that was too much of an over underlying issue that they tried to really really promote in this film And I think they did it too much now Were they going more from a professional aspect or a women's empowerment or I think you just In the job place itself like she makes a point of we're hiring a woman. We're hiring a woman That and there's no that's even on the trailer said I want a woman But I think this the situations that surround that where And that's why to me that's part of Catherine's character evolution too is she goes from Well, we need a female perspective. So hire woman like she goes from that That that almost level of coldness to then understanding the human aspect of it And I see where you're going with that and it makes sense to me it didn't But that didn't affect me on that level to me.

It was more about one person and How she had to realize that number one if you're going to be in this industry you kind of have to roll with the times you can't you know You can't book the same guests that Pears Morgan would have done in early in his career on a late night show or Oh, what's the guy name of the guy Tom that used to do the late late show The guys that the people that he would book or or David Frost those kind of things In a late night format and I really thought that I see where you're going and I can say I disagree with you It just didn't hit me in that same way. I think it's too much for me on this And It was just too predictable and I just the comedy to make up for it But to me a film like this I didn't need to be unpredictable I just want to see it to me. This was about the journey more than it was about the destination Where it was just like I kind of want to see how we get to this point And there were a couple of points and I was like like I said earlier man.

They kind of went for it on that Yeah, I love Kaylee. I heard in the office. I mean yeah She's she's a great writer.

Yeah great and There I am being told that some of this is autobiographical Uh, she did she did do a lot of that because they've been working on this for a while I know she posted the what was at the table read last year Probably something like that was so she this has been a very much passion project for her And some of it some of the plots like I said the subplots some seem a little rushed for me some of it was kind of weird But it didn't take me out of it. I like I really enjoyed this film Anything else we want to talk about when we get to the file analysis now All right, the way we do the file analysis on the show we're not going to give you thumbs up thumbs down letters numbers Uh ratings books anything like that Two questions up to if you will Can I just go to that thing Question number one is would we see this again the answers know then we're done here The answers yes then the follow question is how far we will need to go to see it best of the best of the worst of the best Here's how it goes Full price in a theater down to a twilight show down to a matinee down to early morning down to second run at the dollar theater Down to actually leaving your house to get it from a red box down to streaming it on your favorite streaming service down to cable Don Ford would you see late night again barely yes So is it we're just going straight here Yeah, if TV um Sometime on maybe on TV. I would see this again I Think I would stream it.

I mean, it's I don't know that it It demands the theatrical experience But if you're looking for something that's You know, it's just kind of a light movie that you can go to and have a little fun with but it's got some serious moments to it This is good You know, it's not gonna be it's probably not gonna be my top 10 of the year But it's also not gonna be my bottom 10 of the year either and I think that's really kind of what it's shooting So for you, it's more of a possible background feature of something you enjoyed, but maybe not go out of your way If my wife was like hey, I want to watch this. I I wouldn't use veto power on that You know it is and by the way, there's a nice little easter egg In there in Mindy Kaling's room in her apartment. There is a Movie poster on the wall That movie poster represents director nisha gantara's first film What's whose foot whose phone is going nuts It's coming from over there somewhere.

There we don't know. I had a thing on off. It's weird.

I don't know And it's it's late night Okay, for way this whole thing. We got I think Brad here may have fun to be our for the invite Hey, we love our vendors. They let us see movies and this goes out this way.

We don't but blesses it all We do we love our vendors. They take care of us and we get to do cool stuff because of them All right, make sure you visit our website the aforementioned www.theclubhousepodcast.com So you can find our written reviews and so much more follow us on social media. We depreciate it Twitter's at clubhouse show everything else is the clubhouse podcast all three words in that order Or you will wind up somewhere else you can follow me on social media if you would like Everything is yes, that rob urban that I spoke E R V I N in my normal co-host for this show is Chad Womack You can follow him at chat and PG-6-9.

I am vexboit on all social media remember to catch our regular shows every Sunday on the vocal media network at 70 eastern port for or for Pacific and on Twitter. I'm at eagbo do IG B U N U U U Also email me don's clubhousepodcast.com email Don for information how we can come do a live show for you We love doing live shows and hanging out with the empire email me questions comments concerns Tell me to go pound sand. I am Robert the clubhouse podcast calm chat is chat at the clubhouse podcast calm Charlotte Parker is on Pinterest because we're morally obligated to say that General could not be with us tonight, but her written review will be up as well Sean wait non Alex Faith waiting on Don chat is with Shannon our normal show every Sunday night seven eastern for Pacific is your one-stop shop for all things pop culture Subscribe when you favorite podcasts app too makes us feel better about ourselves So until next time for Don Alex and the empire.

I'm Rob clubhouse is closed. I mean Britney Palmer. I mean Make her the talk show guest when you had the girl from masters of sex on there you could have her on there too.

I'm just saying You

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