Critics reviews

It presents us with the unadorned and thereby all the more moving story of a man who did his best to live a life devoted to serving those who needed him most—a simple-enough-sounding proposition, until you see how few figures in the public sphere in our time are attempting anything of the sort.

Just as professionally and seamlessly assembled as Neville’s 20 Feet from Stardom, his Oscar-winning tribute to unsung back-up singers, Neighbor constructs an elegant tribute to its subject through a collage of archive footage and original interviews.

The movie’s warm fuzziness owes at least something to the fact that it curtails these rough edges. But its power is also in its dedication, however unchallenging, to the man himself.

I expect you'll be wanting to know whether Mr. Rogers was really like that in life. According to Won't You Be My Neighbor? . . . the answer is yes, but it's complicated. Which is just what you want from a tender tribute that's anything but a hagiography of the ordained Presbyterian minister who took the pie-in-the-face out of TV-for-tots.