Morning Glory directed by Roger MichellMy rating: 3½ of 5 stars
Slowly, but surely, I find myself liking Rachel McAdams more and more. Her latest film, Morning Glory is the story of Becky Fuller an ambitious young producer who is, somewhat surprisingly, given the opportunity to resurrect the long-ailing, 40-year old network morning news program, "Daybreak."
Based on early promos, I had Morning Glory pegged as a typical chick flick, and went to see it with pretty low expectations. It is a good thing Mom taught me not to judge a book by its cover...because the good news is that while Morning Glory did make a nice date movie—it has a good story, a great cast, and a less-than-typical Hollywood comedy script, it really wasn't a chick flick and director Roger Michell and producer J.J. Abrams have put together an enjoyable film. Overall the movie works, so women shouldn't have a problem getting their men to watch it (once they get them to the theater).
The ensemble cast includes Diane Keaton as the show's co-anchor Colleen Peck. Keaton does good work as a spry, albeit aging, morning news personality willing to try almost anything to keep the jeopardized program afloat. Patrick Wilson is Adam (Becky's love interest), a story editor for a news magazine show. Becky clicks with Adam almost immediately but her devotion to her job interferes with her relationship throughout the film (in the romantic sub-plot). The romance between McAdams and Wilson isn't heavy-handed, and seems like mostly an afterthought—although McAdams does look great in the lingerie she wore for Adam in their second date scene (but that's neither here nor there).
Additional supporting cast include John Pankow, Jeff Goldblum, and Patti D'Arbanville who all deliver excellent supporting performances. But Harrison Ford playing the distinguished veteran newsman Michael Pomeroy headlines the ensemble. Pomeroy is an old school, serious news anchor, who maintains that the "news is a sacred temple" and that he is "too good" to stoop to doing fluff pieces, which happen to be the lifeblood of morning talk shows. Heroine Becky is able to finagle him into taking a co-anchor position across from Keaton's Peck, but neither woman can get him to warm up to the morning news routine...
I found myself laughing as writer Aline Brosh McKenna mocks the insipid jokes and fake laughs of the morning news shows that we see on camera, and more than once I wondered if the movie portrays what is really going on behind the scenes at the Today Show. Diane Keaton and Ford play off each other so well as enraged egomaniacs, their mutual upstaging and bickering, turned off just in time for the cameras to roll made me hope for more scenes of them together.
Regardless of the star power of the movie's supporting cast, Rachel McAdams is the focus of this movie. McAdams' Fuller has that schizophrenic quality that Hollywood (and to some extent our society) uses as shorthand for career-minded women. She obsesses over her work, she flits from idea to idea at an afternoon "first date" dinner (a date whom she manages to scare off in minutes), and can't quite decide when to silence her meandering babbles in front of anyone, let alone her future boss (Jeff Goldblum), a television executive who's not sure if he should take a chance on her.
I only recall seeing Rachel McAdams in Mean Girls and Sherlock Holmes prior to this movie. Playing the antagonist in Mean Girls, and she did a good job, but I really didn't realize what a very charming and talented actress she was, until Sherlock Holmes, where she played a wonderful foil to Robert Downey, Jr.'s Holmes. She more than carried her weight in that "buddy" adventure/thriller. Here, she proves to be a very good comedienne, and she is able to take Hollywood's contrived cliché of the talky, klutzy, heart of gold heroine, and turn in a performance that seems genuine and endearing. The more I see of McAdams' performances, the more I want to go see.
The real centerpieces of Morning Glory are the scenes between McAdams and Harrison Ford. At first, to me at least, Ford doesn't quite feel right as the self-important, somewhat arrogant, newsman Michael Pomeroy, who, as Becky is constantly reminded, is the "third worst person in the world." I just can't see Ford as a Cronkite, Brokaw or Rather. As the movie progresses, director Roger Michell is able take that "he doesn't quite fit" feeling and couple it with the star-power and weight that both Ford and Pomeroy posses – the weight to crush the plucky Becky (and McAdams).
What I found interesting, was how Michell controlled Ford's "star power" in much the same way a race car driver controls his speeding car to avoid crashing into the wall – a wall where the spectators/audience are watching and expecting, dare I say anticipating, a crash. Michell uses this as a Sword of Damocles. One that hangs over Becky/McAdams' head. Michell engages the audience with the star-power of Ford and moves forward the mentor/student-father/daughter relationship between Ford and McAdams' characters, all the while avoiding the crash.
These scenes, between these two principals, are each very good, pretty funny, and end up being some of my favorites scenes in the movie. From the hunting scene where they first meet, to the frittata scene at Pomeroy's apartment (foreshadowing the dénouement), Each scene is an excellent piece of the acting/directing craft.
Being a big Ford fan, I'm glad to say he did some really good work in this film, and despite my initial misgivings about him as an "elder statesman of news" Some of Pomeroy's sarcastic one-liners are simply laugh-out-loud funny. In the end I forget my initial misgivings and end up liking and identifying with his character as he warms up to McAdams.
What's not to like? Despite all of my praise for the actors, the main shortcoming of the film (for me) really has to do with the predictable, telegraphed, and underwhelming dénouement (where Becky finally gets the interview for her dream job at the Today Show, forcing her to choose between what she has created at "Daybreak" and her dream). Although we get a typical Hollywood ending, I didn't feel a sense of closure as the credits rolled. It could have been the editing, or the script itself, but it just fell flat... that said, if you are a Rachel McAdams or Harrison Ford fan, you'll enjoy this one, and I'm anxious to see McAdams' next film...
