Grade: B+
Surprises aren’t something I usually get out of romantic comedies. Usually there’s a girl and usually she likes a guy and usually she has to overcome a series of obstacles to prove her worth to the world and her self, all while falling in love through a series of usually-cheesy montages. It’s what I’ve come to expect and, usually, that’s what happens.
But “Morning Glory,” product of screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna, who brought the world the one-two punch of “The Devil Wears Prada” and “27 Dresses,” is not the romantic comedy that one would probably assume it is, and for that we can all be thankful and appreciative of the little success that it manages because of it.
The film centers around the usual plot points that films of its sort often do, introducing Becky, an up-and-comer in the broadcast-news production business played with so much pep and charisma by Rachel McAdams that any efforts to distance yourself from the film quickly fall flat; McAdams is, quite literally, irresistible. After going jobless for a bit, Becky’s brought aboard to save the failing morning news program “Daybreak,” hosted by Diane Keaton’s cranky and bored Colleen, and she has big plans to bring up ratings, starting with hiring the Cronkite-like Mike Pomeroy, played by Harrison Ford doing his best “Brokaw bellow.” Along the way, Becky meets Patrick Wilson’s Adam, the good-looking guy everyone in the office wants to be with but who only has eyes for Becky.
You’d expect it to be par for the course from here, and, in some ways, it is. But instead of making the story about Becky getting Adam or Becky learning to love again, “Morning Glory” hands Becky the guy early. Within twenty-five minutes, Becky and Adam are already a couple, skipping the song-and-dance you’d expect in favor of building an earnest, real relationship: I can’t even begin to tell you how much the decision to do that helps “Morning Glory” grow into the movie it is.
Instead of wasting time on the love story, the film revolves around how Becky views Pomeroy, the film’s fallen bastion of old-school journalism trying to find his way in the age of the overly-emotional Anderson Cooper’s of the world. The film’s coping with journalism is real, respectful and, all things considered, far more accurate than it probably needed to be.
From beginning to end, issues about everything from gender roles in the journalism work place to the politics of one’s own personality being communicated to the public eye are discussed at length in the film. Pomeroy’s speech about newsworthiness versus what’s entertaining for an audience, which lent an extra heaping of gusto and import because of Ford’s dead-on performance, is something to behold. At one point, he and McAdams build a literal news diet, using Bran cereal and an old donut to talk about what makes “real” news and what makes “fun” news.
The film is fair to all sides of the broadcast process, giving the role of the producer the attention it often deserves but never gets, while demystifying the seemingly glamorous elements of being on-air talent. Power struggles over story control, finding the quality from the crap in morning news meetings, deciding the best way to reconcile bad relationships with your co-workers: “Morning Glory” does all this and more, with the perfect combination of light-heartedness and earnest respect for the industry.
“Morning Glory” is one of the more meaningful cinematic efforts centered on the news cycle I’ve seen, and with respect for the profession and characters who grow and develop, especially Ford’s Pomeroy, the film manages to be fun and engaging from start to finish.
Contact the critic at vburnton@asu.edu
