ing staff, Patel battles to have her
voice heard and save the ailing
show.
Late Night is essentially a mes-
sage movie on the theme of
workplace inclusion, but it’s so
inconsistent and contradictory in
how it delivers that message that
it ultimately gives ammunition to
opponents of diversity. For a start,
there’s the elephant in the room
that is Newbury. In America, fe-
male late night talk show hosts
are as common as flying unicorns,
yet the film presents Newbury
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 59
as part of a unimpeachable sys-
tem of privilege. Making a female
late night talk show host, which
isn’t a real thing, an avatar of the
status quo is a truly baffling de-
cision. We’re told Newbury has
been hosting the show since 1991
(yeah, right), which means she
would have had to battle through
the same systemic sexism Patel
faces in the writers’ room, yet the
film - which seems to think simply
being white, regardless of your
gender, automatically opens un-
limited doors - never acknowledg-
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