Morning Glory (2010)

Morning Glory has a likeable lead in McAdams, but falls flat for the most part and fails as both a comedy and a romance.Where it doesn't fall flat, is the workplace drama and the relationship between Rachel and Harrison's characters, which really picks up in the second half of the film. Unfortunately too much of the film has passed, that it can't be salvaged. I like Rachel McAdams and I like her performance here, not much else works though. The great cast was underutilized and frankly too lax. Like another reviewer stated, Becky and Mike basically walk off into the sunset at films end instead of her and Adam, so you could've just scrapped the whole romance thing as they had no chemistry.

Movies/TV series about journalism interest me. The other reason I wanted to check Morning Glory out was cast. I have a huge respect for Harrison Ford, I simply adore Rachel McAdams and I like Jeff Goldblum and John Pankow. Also, J. J. Abrams is listed as a producer which seemed interesting to me. And yeah, H. Ford does a great job of playing grumpy old man and R. McAdams is just adorable (not in any demeaning way). But the movie tries so hard to be more than it is. For example - it tries to by heartwarming, but fails and is cringey in many places instead. The story itself isn't anything special, but tries to seem as something worth a deeper thought. But the acting or story aren't the reasons why I rated this movie 5/10 (barely). I think that the director is the one to blame. It is the way how he tells the story that just misses the mark with me.

It's nice to see Rachel McAdams getting her due. She's been one of the more underrated actresses out there, excelling in supporting roles for years which finally lead up to her Academy Award nomination for Spotlight. This movie came out awhile ago and while it's definitely a for the masses type of film, it's worth revisiting because of Rachel and Harrison's respective work, they're hilarious together.*Minor Spoilers Ahead* The movie begins with Becky (Rachel McAdams) out on a date. Although she's attractive and has an interesting job, her personal problems come out immediately. She can't stop talking, she's a little awkward and she's constantly fielding calls from work. The date ends quickly and then we move forward in a montage. Becky is up at midnight when everyone else is going to bed and she arrives for a meeting before the crack of dawn. The program she works for (Good Morning New Jersey) has all the hallmarks of a small time morning news program (blatantly over-enthusiastic weather person, low production values, one of the hosts even dozes off on air). She's expecting a promotion but is surprisingly fired.She doesn't seem to have much in terms of prospects with even her own mother telling her to give up and find a more realistic job. She pounds the pavement though, sending out many resumes and calling up the major news networks. She finally hears back from IBS and goes in for an interview. Jerry Barnes (Jeff Goldblum) interviews her and she is put off by his condescending nature both towards her and the show she would be hired to produce Daybreak. Daybreak is the lowest rated major network morning news program which is both underfunded and lacks the support of the network. Apparently nobody wants to work there but she accepts the job. On her way out she bumps into Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) who has just been dismissed. He's a hero of hers and while she's geeking out over him, he leaves her in the elevator. Her first day on the job she's berated by long standing anchor Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) and hit on by the other anchor Paul McVee (Ty Burrell) who she quickly fires for his disrespectful behaviour. It all seems overwhelming but she shows she does have the skills for the job but has handicapped herself as she has to go looking for a new co-anchor.A lot of the critics have bashed this movie as not being a deep satire of the news industry. I'm not going to disagree with that point but that's not what this movie is. This movie is admittedly really light, it's not meant to have subtext. I think that would have added to the movie as there really isn't much drama outside of Becky's personal struggles but this is essentially a romantic comedy and it's not aiming for anyone outside of that audience. It's too bad but it's not really fair to condemn Morning Glory just for that.Where this movie does work is that it's a really good vehicle for Rachel McAdams. She's normally works mostly in the drama department (minus Mean Girls) but she actually shows some great comedic timing (her best scenes are all with Harrison Ford but more on that later) and even pulls off physical comedy pretty well. I think even if you don't like Morning Glory, it's hard to fault the effort in her performance (Becky as a character can be annoying though). It's hard for actresses to move up and find consistent work on a large stage but I think Rachel's proved she's one of the better actresses working today.The supporting cast is also good featuring probably the best comedic performance from Harrison Ford I've seen (not his best acting job but it's his funniest in my opinion). He's doing a lot of growling and snapping at McAdams but the dialogue is hilarious and it's a natural fit for him. He still shows his talent with the dramatic bits and Ford, Keaton and McAdams playing off each other is way more entertaining than the half developed romantic angle that McAdams has with Patrick Wilson's character (it's not Wilson's fault, he's his normal charming self, his part just isn't written all that well). Diane Keaton is really funny too and her scenes with Ford are priceless. I would like to point out Matt Malloy is also super funny as Daybreak's weatherman Ernie.I really like this movie but even I have to admit that there are problems. I already talked about the lack of subtext and the underdeveloped romantic subplot but Becky herself can be pretty annoying. In any other movie you would hate her as she's constantly having to put her foot in her mouth for saying the wrong thing or just being so plucky its embarrassing (people keep expecting her to burst into song like a musical). The reason you end up liking her is that she just refuses to give up when the world continually keeps kicking her. That may be an excuse but I think if you watch the movie, you'll understand where I'm coming from.I've re-watched Morning Glory a few times and there hasn't been much drop off. It's still really funny and even when you hit the predictable feel good ending, it doesn't affect it too much. I get the mixed reception but Morning Glory shows how talented Rachel McAdams is and gives you a lot of laughs along the way.

Morning Glory (2010: Dir: Roger Mitchell / Cast: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum: Comedic drama about ideas and expression. Rachel McAdams stars as a producer of a struggling morning talk show that she would like to elevate from the bottom point just as she is in her personal life. She lands this title after being fired from her previous job. Now she must prove herself and does so by hiring a difficult news anchor to replace a previous host alongside the remaining host. Directed by Roger Mitchell who previously had success with Notting Hill, and he is backed with terrific sets and a great cast. It plays off romance in the work place in a similar way Notting Hill applied romance to show business but within a civilian outsider. McAdams is on target trying to juggle the many job demands, combating personalities and romance. She comes from a downfall but turns it around and struggles greatly to do so. What is learned here is that despite the down time hard work can pay off with great results. Harrison Ford steals the film as the difficult veteran news anchor who must learn to be a team player. Diane Keaton plays the veteran host at odds with Ford. It is terrific to see these two veteran performers argue back and forth. Only Patrick Wilson is a weak link as a romantic prop. He seems to have no other function other than to appear periodically to take McAdams to lunch and figure out how to bed her. Wilson is beyond this sort of cardboard crap. Other than that this is an engaging film about the industry up long before we're out of bed. Score: 9 ½ / 10