Review: Morning Glory
Morning Glory is refreshing; not only is it a witty workplace comedy (these seem pretty rare nowadays), but it scores laughs without dumbing anything down. I went to the screening after dealing with a lousy day, hoping that the movie would just be decent, and it surpassed my expectations. It made me laugh, often and sometimes quite loudly. What an excellent remedy to a cruddy day!
Becky (Rachel McAdams) loves working on morning shows, and her life goal is to produce The Today Show. Because of network cutbacks, she loses her producer position at a New Jersey TV station, but is eventually hired by network TV muckety muck Jerry Barnes (Jeff Goldblum). Becky becomes executive producer for Day Break, a struggling morning show (consistently fourth in the ratings) featuring Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton, marvelous as ever) and her skeazy co-anchor Paul McVee (Ty Burrell). Among the changes Becky puts into place, McVee is out and curmudgeonly newsman Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) is in.
Part of the fun of Morning Glory is watching the acrimonious relationship grow between Keaton and Ford's characters. While Colleen kisses frogs on-air, Mike refuses to cover anything vaguely entertaining. He states, "News is a sacred temple." But newsertainment, Becky tells him, is here to stay. Becky's plucky eagerness to raise the ratings contrasts well with Mike's staid gravitas.
McAdams plays Becky as a young woman absolutely devoted to her job. She has no friends outside of the office (particularly noticeable as she's packing and moving her apartment) and hasn't had much success dating-wise either. Until she runs into hunky news producer Adam Bennett (Patrick Wilson), that is. Thank goodness Morning Glory veers more towards His Girl Friday and less towards Woman of the Year as far as relationships within the media workplace go. Becky's obsession with her job isn't depicted as something she needs to feel guilty about, and she proves able to carry on a relationship without having to give up anything career-wise.
The bright screenplay from Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) keeps the laughs coming. The hardest one for me happened when a certain former president's photo is used over the words "'sexual offender" during Mike's first show. Harrison Ford making angry faces as he watches the current IBS anchor, played by real-life journalist Miles O'Brien, on his dressing room TV is also laugh-worthy. O'Brien isn't the only news-type to make a cameo -- Chris Matthews, Bob Schieffer and Morley Safer show up as Mike's drinking buddies.
It's not too difficult to see how director Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Enduring Love) was able to nab respected actors Keaton, Ford, Goldblum, McAdams, etc. They must have enjoyed making the movie, and you will likely enjoy watching it.