Too much sugar-coating to get to the heart of the matter

Rating: 7/10 (16 January 2017)

HIDDEN FIGURES follows the behind-the-scenes journey of NASA to put a man on the moon. With stiff competition between Russia and the thought of coming in second place in a two-way race, the need for success was palpable. We have seen movies following the journey of astronauts and the science wizards at NASA, but who would have guessed that even as man was shooting for the stars, employees at the head offices still had to use "colored" and "white" bathrooms?
Theodore Melfi directs this picture which has the feel-good attitude of "The Help," a movie that was a box-office success and sugarcoated race relations in the 1960's. Heck, even Octavia Spencer appears in both films. I can't say for sure which film succeeds more at its objective. The story of black female mathematicians surely isn't one that many people had heard of, and perhaps that's where the film's title is rooted (although I would wager that "Hidden Figures" is one of the year's worst titles...). It's a good story rooted in strong performances, but I found the overall result to be a wash of clichés and predictability.
Three friends - Katherine, Dorothy, and Mary (Taraji Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae respectively) carpool together to the offices of NASA where John Glenn is about to launch into space to become the first American to circle the globe via spaceship. How they are friends we are not sure, but their quick wits and strong minds surely bind them together. Our central character is Katherine, who is called in to assist with the top engineers on flight reentries and landings. Not only is she the only black woman working on these most important calculations, but she is the only woman aside from a secretary who watches her with distain. She reports to Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), built up to be a firm disciplinarian but develops into a man who only wants to see the job done, regardless of race or sex. At NASA, we learn that most of the black mathematicians work in a 'holding room' of sorts, arriving each morning and assigned as 'computers' on various tasks that could result in a couple hours work or a couple weeks... It's all based on assignment. Though they are all employed, the possibility of work is not always guaranteed.
Like "Apollo 13" did so brilliantly, suspense is built during moments when we know the outcome. Even though we know John Glenn makes it back to earth safely (and only just passed away this year), there are nail-biting moments of drama when the fate of success rests on a pencil, paper, and brains. Mary (Janelle Monae in the film's best performance) is assigned to work on the capsule and heat shield. Though she excels at math, she dreams of becoming an engineer (unheard of at the time. She became the first black female engineer in NASA history as the end credits tell us). She takes no slack and acts as any man in her position would: she is straight-forward and doesn't shy away from confrontation. Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) only wants to become a Supervisor and get an according pay raise, and along the way discovers her knack for computers and electronic programming.
I admire the film and it's message, but even yet we suffer from cliché. Whether or not Katherine Johnson was called in within 10 seconds of launch to recalculate a landing formula is beside the point. There are moments in this film where I found myself saying "I've seen this before" and "I bet I know what will happen next." Ten times out of ten I was right. This isn't to discredit the stories of the real women, but rather dismiss the screenwriter for falling prey to conventionality. I highly doubt Dorothy Vaughan was able to sneak into the massive IBM Computer Room and reprogram the machine for weeks without being caught. I doubt the engineers at NASA were really so dumb as to put astronauts' lives at risk until the their math was proved wrong by the film's hero. For a film, it's exhilarating entertainment. Considering the real-life story was almost guaranteed to be less dramatic, we can cut our losses.
I should expect Janelle Monae and perhaps Octavia Spencer to reel in the award nominations for their dedicated and memorable roles. I would consider Taraji P Henson if not for one scene that screams "I want an Oscar" in which Katherine explodes about having to use a colored bathroom and face the scorn of her coworkers. Wide-eyed and full of rage, it's a powerful moment yet goes against everything we know this character to be. The film itself feels a lot like that: trying so hard to be an Oscar contender even by putting reality aside. There isn't a whole lot of depth given to these characters, and even less to the white engineers who essentially prove to be the villains (Jim Parsons gives a surprisingly monotone performance). For movies to touch on aspects of historical race relations, they must realize that it isn't all black and white.