If The Legionnaire is a testament to anything, other than my commitment to bring you a Catholic take on cinema, I hope that it demonstrates a love for writing. When I began it, I had entertained illusions of making some money from doing so, but nothing has come of that venture. I could say that about a lot of what I have tried in life, but what keeps me sane is knowing that God loves me and has a plan for me. It is not yet clear what that plan is, but I keep trying all the same. In the absence of that blessed clarity, I look to the gifts the Almighty gave me, and I think writing is one of them. The fact that I have sold so few copies of my novel, Bob the Time Traveler, may suggest that my talents lie elsewhere, but I am not yet willing to admit defeat. One sees a lot of these themes in today’s film, Late Night (2019), which is one of the reasons I enjoyed it. I hope to tell you about the rest.

Late Night begins with Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), the formidable British host of Tonight with Katherine Newbury, reflecting on a career as the front person of a long-running American late-night program. It is one that has earned her acclaim and dozens of Emmy Awards. Still, her success has also left her isolated and complacent. Katherine barely knows the men who write her show, refers to them by numbers rather than names, and has developed a reputation for disliking other women. More importantly, her ratings have been declining for years. Network president Caroline Morton (Amy Ryan) warns Katherine that the program has become stale and that her time may be running out. After one of Katherine’s writers accuses her of hating women, she orders producer Brad (Denis O’Hare) to hire a female writer immediately. The beneficiary is Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling), an Indian American employee at a chemical plant who has no professional comedy-writing experience but adores Katherine and has long dreamed of becoming a writer. Her hiring is plainly motivated by diversity, and the all-male writing staff is quick to remind her of it. Molly nevertheless refuses to accept that she does not belong. She shares an office with veteran writer Burditt (Max Casella), clashes with head monologue writer Tom Campbell (Reid Scott), and initially annoys Katherine by criticizing the show without offering material to improve it. Burditt gives her a simple piece of advice: if she is a writer, she should write. Molly does exactly that, producing material strong enough to earn Katherine’s attention. The larger problem is that Katherine has lost touch with her audience. An interview with internet celebrity Mimi Mismatch (Annaleigh Ashford) becomes a disaster when Mimi realizes that Katherine is mocking her, and she retaliates by calling the host bitter and out of touch. Molly continues pushing Katherine to become more personal and less aloof. At a party at Katherine’s home, Molly meets her warm husband, Walter Lovell (John Lithgow), who has Parkinson’s disease, and sees a gentler side of Katherine’s life. Some of that softness comes out when the press questions her about the derogatory way she refers to her writers, and Molly helps save the moment. Later, Molly insists on leaving work to perform at a lung-cancer benefit held in memory of her father despite Katherine threatening to fire her for leaving. Katherine follows her and watches Molly turn her own frustrations into comedy. The experience persuades Katherine that the show needs more of her actual personality. She begins venturing outside the studio, addressing politics more directly, engaging with younger guests rather than condescending to them, and allowing the writers to create material rooted in her own experiences. The audience responds, and the ratings begin to improve. The turnaround comes too late for Caroline, who has already chosen crude but popular comedian Daniel Tennant (Ike Barinholtz) to replace Katherine. Molly refuses to accept the decision as inevitable and encourages Katherine to fight for her show. When Daniel appears as a guest, Katherine announces on the air that the network intends him to replace her, then admits that she does not want to leave. Daniel is maneuvered into publicly supporting her, and Katherine declares that she intends to stay. Her victory is short-lived. Emails belonging to writer Charlie Fain (Hugh Dancy) are hacked, revealing that Katherine had an affair with him several years earlier, shortly after Walter had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. The scandal threatens both Katherine’s marriage and her newly revived career. Instead of confronting what she did, Katherine retreats into self-pity. Molly angrily tells her that she is throwing away the show they have all worked to save, prompting Katherine to fire her. Tom, who has gradually come to respect Molly, comforts her after she loses the job. Katherine finally speaks honestly with Walter, who is hurt by her betrayal but refuses to reduce their long marriage to its worst moment. She also meets with her writers and, for once, acknowledges them as individuals rather than interchangeable employees. Believing she may be hosting her final episode, Katherine addresses the scandal directly on the air. She admits the affair without making excuses, apologizes, and speaks sincerely about how much the program and its audience have meant to her. Her honesty, combined with the show’s recent improvement, persuades Caroline to let her remain. Katherine then goes to Molly’s new home in Brooklyn, apologizes for firing her, and asks her to return. Molly does, and the film jumps ahead one year. Katherine’s writers’ room is now far more diverse, the show is thriving, and Katherine is more engaged with the people around her. Molly has become co-head monologue writer alongside Tom, with whom she has also begun a relationship.

Thus, Late Night concludes with what started as an improbable opportunity given to an inexperienced writer becoming a genuine career, while Katherine’s willingness to listen to that writer has helped restore a career nearly lost. This strikes me as a particularly strong argument for diversity, which is arguably another way of describing God’s creation in general. In recent years, there has been a great deal of railing against the concept of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” as a supposed boogeyman for taking opportunities from so-called “more qualified” recipients. It is thinly veiled racism, and something with which Molly must contend throughout the movie. I would question anyone, particularly someone who calls himself or herself a Christian, who accepts the notion that diversity, equity, and inclusion are somehow dangerous to society. To be clear, though, Molly did not help turn around Katherine’s show because the younger woman is of Indian heritage. Instead, Molly used the gifts God gave her, as well as her experience, in order to make a positive impact on those around her. The same thing can be said for Katherine. Let us be completely honest. By and large, those who rail against diversity, equity, and inclusion are those of a certain ethnic persuasion who feel threatened by change. In other words, they represent a monolith that they are loath to see altered in any way. There are those who have criticized Catholicism in similar terms. Admittedly, the Church can be slow to change sometimes. After all, Catholics did not immediately respond to the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century with openness and warmth. It took decades for the Church to launch its own Counter-Reformation, emphasizing aspects of the Faith that needed updating. There is an analog in this to Katherine’s journey. It is evident that she had long been resistant to doing things differently until Molly came into her life, representing something new. And when Katherine admits to her affair live on air, it is like the human side of Catholicism confessing its own mistakes. The Church herself is holy because Christ is holy, but her members are sinners who must continually repent and seek reform. The end result of these moves, as we see in the movie and real life, is that all are strengthened for doing so.

If you have ever had a dream, then watching Late Night might strengthen your desire to continue to pursue it. It is as solid a movie as I have seen of late, and it is not long to boot. This one is an unqualified recommendation, though there is some foul language.