Rating: R
Genre:
Comedy Drama
Release Date: 08/30/2005
SubTitles: English/French/Espanol
Dubbed: English/Espanol
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 95 Minutes
Flags: Questionable for Children, Adult Language, Adult Humor
Distributor/Studio: HBO Home Video
Based on the non-fiction best-seller,
The Late Shift is an irreverent, behind-the-scenes look at the conflict over who would succeed
Johnny Carson as host of
The Tonight Show,
Jay Leno or
David Letterman. Beginning with
Carson's retirement, the made-for-cable film follows the backstage manueverings of both camps. When
NBC chooses,
Letterman refuses to lose quietly. Hosting
The Tonight Show has been his life-long dream, and he is willing to do whatever it takes, even hiring an agent, to get what he wants. Indeed,
Letterman soon finds himself working with ultra-powerful Hollywood agent
Mike Ovitz and receiving huge offers from competing networks. Meanwhile,
NBC has more trouble with the
Leno Tonight Show than expected, thanks to
Leno's manager
Helen Kushnick (
Kathy Bates).
Kushnick's acerbic, foul-mouthed manner and increasingly petty behavior infuriates the higher-ups at
NBC -- so much so that some suggest they give the show to
Letterman after all. A series of intense negotiations follows, under the shadow of ludicrously frenzied media attention. While the presentation of both
Leno and
Letterman (played by unknowns
Daniel Roebuck and
John Michael Higgins, respectively) is fairly sympathetic, the film is far-less charitable to
Kushnick and
NBC executives.
~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
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