Tom Hanks's great performance makes the movie well worth watching

Tom Hanks's performance in Marielle Heller's Fred Rogers biopic, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), is a sure-bet Oscar nomination (supporting actor) for his uncanny portrayal of the children's TV hero. The movie shines in every scene with Hanks, as he captures not only FR's well-known cadences and quirky mannerisms but the offscreen Rogers as well - who, delightedly, has just the same patience, wisdom, and modesty - as well as a connection with children and adults. The plot such as it is concerns an Esquire writer (played by Matthew Rhys) assigned, against his will, to write a brief profile of FR - who immediately senses that Rhys is a troubled young man and leads him, gently, into a discussion about his "feelings" about his difficult, sometimes abusive father - leading, of course, to a feel-good conclusion. The scenes in which Rhys tries to interview FR (the plot is based on an actual Esquire story by Tom Junod) and in which FR deftly sidesteps questions and focuses laser-like on Rhys are great; ditto, the scenes in which we see FR on the set, especially the touching scene when he gets down on one knee to speak w/ a child visiting from a hospital. Less successful are the father-son scenes w/ Rhys and Chris Cooper; I never bought into the utter transformation of Dad and the pat resolution of the family crises, but so be it - sure the movie could have been 20 minutes shorter and could have ended on a more ambiguous note rather than on hosannas, but still worth watching for TH's performance and for some wonder, tender moments of insight into the lives and minds of children and of the adults, or one adult anyway, who had a unique connection to the feelings and emotions of the very young.