Films Late Night

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Late Night poster

Film · 2019

Late Night

Directed by Nisha Ganatra · starring Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling and John Lithgow

  • 1 h 42 min
  • 15
  • Comedy · Drama
  • USA
  • Released in the UK 6 June 2019
  • 6.4 AverageMovieNCo
  • 5.5 Users2 votes
  • 7.4 Critics5 reviews
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Synopsis

Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson, 'Saving Mr Banks') has been the reigning monarch of late night television for years through her successful show 'Tonight'. Though Katherine has countless Emmys to her name and is seemingly above accusations that she is an "elitist" Brit who dislikes other women, when ratings for her beloved show plunders, she is forced to question why. To avoid the president of the network (Amy Ryan, 'Birdman') throwing a provocative writer into the current all-male writing room to shake things up, Katherine orders her co-worker, Brad (Denis O'Hare, 'Dallas Buyers Club') to hire a woman to do the job instead. Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling, 'The Office'), a former quality control officer who entertains her coworkers with a comedy routine over the loudspeaker, seems to tick all the boxes as not only a woman, but a woman of colour, and she is hired right away.

To Molly's dismay, she struggles with the clear tokenism that accompanied her hiring as the men seem to either despise, underestimate or wish to seduce her. Nonetheless, Molly is set on helping Katherine modernise her show and achieving her dreams regardless of her race or gender.

'Late Night' is directed by Nisha Ganatra ('Chutney Popcorn', 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine') and was written by Kaling.

Where to watch Late Night

All the options

Available now in the UK:

Availability checked on 8 November 2026.

The essentials

Runtime
102 min1 hour and 42 minutes
Budget
$9.5m3 Arts Entertainment
Box office
$14.8m1.6 times its budget
Rating
15Suitable only for 15 years and over
How long is Late Night?
1 hour and 42 minutes (102 minutes).
When was Late Night released in the UK?
It was released in the UK on 6 June 2019.
Who directed Late Night?
Nisha Ganatra.
Who is in Late Night?
It stars Emma Thompson, Mindy Kaling, John Lithgow and Hugh Dancy.
Where can I watch Late Night?
In the UK it is available with a channel on Prime Video and to rent on Apple TV.
How much did Late Night make?
It took $14.8 million in US. It cost $9.5 million.
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Cast

Full cast (23)
Director
Nisha Ganatra
Writers
Mindy Kaling
Producers
Ben Browning, Mindy Kaling

Videos and trailers

See the video
'Late Night' trailer 1:5926 May 2019

Photos and posters

All 10 photos

Reviews

All 5 reviews
5.5 2 votes

What the critics say average 7.4 from 5 outlets

  • 8.3 IndiewireKate Erbland "Late Night? smartly sends up not just the cloistered world of late night television, but a current cultural climate struggling to evolve in a changing world". Read
  • 8.0 VultureEmily Yoshida "Late Night isn?t content to just be a story about a woman of color succeeding despite the odds, it?s also cynical about and challenges such psychologically simplistic narratives". Read
  • 6.0 The GuardianBenjamin Lee "Arguably the film?s biggest problem is that it?s less laugh-out-loud hilarious and more deserving of the odd casual smirk". Read

Box office

Weekend by weekend
  • Budget $9.5m
  • US $14.8m

Awards

All the awards

Soundtrack

All 16 songs
  1. Oh My My MyDaisy Dash Spotify
  2. Moonlight Becomes YouLesley Barber Spotify
  3. Like You DoDirtier Blonde Spotify
  4. Like ThatFleur East Spotify

Trivia

All 7 facts

  • Perfect role

    The Katherine's role was written by Mindy Kaling thinking it would suit Emma Thompson

  • Another director

    The original director for this film was meant to be Paul Feig, but he abandoned the project due to schedule problems

  • Intern

    Mindy Kaling worked for Conan O'Brien as an intern.

  • Depression

    There are multiple mentions of Katherine publicly discussing her clinical depression. This plays on the real life occurrence of Emma Thompson discussing her depression following her split from Kenneth Branagh

  • Moms

    Sakina Jaffrey also played Mindy Kaling's mom in 'The Mindy Project'

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