Films throughout the years have shown many angles of news, whether be from television broadcasting or magazine writing. Films about television news are a slightly smaller, but still diverse subgenre. The early era of television news is showcased in Good Night and Good Luck, focusing on serious newscaster Edward R. Murrow. Then there was Broadcast News, a contemporary film (then the 1980s) which turned out to be more of a step by step instruction guide on what not to do when it comes to being on-air talent. The talent in question of course is on one hand an intelligent individual who has the screen presence of a deer in headlights, and the other a charismatic anchor with the reading comprehension skills of Ron Burgundy.
Well here in 2010, Morning Glory comes into play.
Morning Glory follows one morning show producer, Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) working for a small market quickly and quickly making a name for herself. She is expecting a promotion when her boss calls her into his office and tells her that she has to be let go. Already, feeling the hurt of joblessness, Becky then talks to her mom, who tells her that she doesn’t understand why she hasn’t quit the industry earlier to make some “real money.” This of course just encourages her to push forward and find a better TV job. After searching, Becky finally gets a call from the IBS Network regarding a producing position for the dying Daybreak morning show, currently rated 4th out of 4 in the mornings.
Jerry Barnes (Jeff Goldblum), the News Director, gives her an incredibly hostile interview, perhaps partially to test her and the other more prominent part because he is just a jerk. For whatever reason, Barnes calls Becky back and she gets the job. When Becky arrives, the show is just as bad as the News Director described. The anchors are egotistical and difficult to work with, and the rest of the staff is in desperate need of a good leader to get them out of the slump. Becky also meets a really cute guy (Patrick Wilson; Watchmen) who asks her out on a date, but between balancing her work and love life it becomes difficult for her to set aside her work to spend quality time with her new love interest. Can she find that balance and get Daybreak to be a contender in morning new shows?
There are many famous names in the movie such as the aforementioned Rachel McAdams and Jeff Goldblum, but of course there is Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton as the morning anchors. At first seeing Keaton and Ford on the screen together as anchors for a wakeup morning show was a little different to me after seeing them in so many famous big screen roles. However, they seemed to fit right in on the “small screen” and they created characters with interesting, if not necessarily likeable, personalities. As for Jeff Goldblum, he seemed a little out of place. After seeing him in intellectual roles such as those in Jurassic Park and The Fly, it was a bit of a disappointment for his character to have one mode: cranky. This isn’t entirely his fault because he doesn’t have a lot of screen time to flesh out a full character, but the screen time he did have only frustrated Becky and by extension me in the audience.
As for Rachel McAdams, she comes off as a chameleon on the screen she has the ability to play more serious roles in Sherlock Holmes, but yet goofier roles in Wedding Crashers. Overall the seasoned cast of actors worked well on screen and added to the humor of the film.
The editing throughout Morning Glory had simplistic, clean cuts. Since this was a fairly “light” film, it didn’t need to go overboard with shading, montages or any other artistic cutting to add to the film.
Roger Mitchell directed Morning Glory. He also is known for other movies such as Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant and also famous for helping Peter O’Toole get Oscar nominated for his film, Venus. He currently isn’t working on any other productions. The film was written by Aline Brosh McKenna who also wrote the film The Devil Wears Prada about fashion magazine writing.
I would recommend this film for anyone who is interested in the television business, is a fan of Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford or Diane Keaton or just wants a fun Romantic Comedy to watch.
© 2010 Beyond The Films
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