Morning Glory

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum
Directed by: Roger Michell
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
2010

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A struggling television producer (Rachel McAdams) agrees to try to turn around a struggling morning show.

Review:

Tim: I really enjoyed Morning Glory, and that surprised me. I'm not saying that the movie looked bad per se, but I wasn't overly impressed with the previews I had seen (intrigued, yes. impressed, not really). I found the film to be a funny, entertaining experience that gives the audience a behind-the-scenes look at a television production. Overall, I found the movie to be quite enjoyable.

I actually love that this was more than just a romantic comedy that happened to be set in a television studio. So many of these films give the main female character an interesting job, but that's secondary to her finding true love. I never really liked that approach. Morning Glory is first and foremost about a television producer working to raise the ratings of a struggling morning talk show. The look into the world of television and what it takes to create a morning show is pretty fascinating. I know that not everything presented here was completely factual, but if you've ever watched one of the morning shows, you'll see a lot of parallels here. Movies about show business are always fascinating to me, and I love that this film worked hard to educate us and be somewhat realistic about this aspect of entertainment. There is a lot to think about here regarding things like entertainment verses news education, about lengths people will go to get a good story, about staying true to your beliefs, finding creative solutions to problems, and much more. There are certainly some deeper, interesting things to ponder while watching this film.

Rachel McAdams is fairly good in the lead role. While I don't think she gave as good of a performance as she could have (I feel more and more in recent years that she's simply not living up to her potential as an actress), she still manages to make us care about her character. That was the first priority for her, and she delivers. She certainly has that "every woman" quality to her.

I loved seeing Harrison Ford here, in a role that is quite different from what he's played recently. I loved seeing him branch out. However, I couldn't shake the belief that to a certain extent, he was just mailing it in. It has been around a decade since the last time I truly believed he cared about his performance. It feels like he's only half paying attention, and because of that, he tends to overact and go too over-the-top. While he certainly has some of these moments, he manages to give a somewhat heartfelt performance as well. While I wish he would have toned down some of it, overall, there were glimpses of hope in his performance. I loved Diane Keaton in her role. It was a smaller role, but she added so much to the film. She was fun to watch during every second of her screen time. She gave a definitively excellent supporting performance- she never overshadows the main actors, and makes every scene she's in better. I also liked Patrick Wilson as the love interest. It was terrific to see their romance take a back-seat to the career aspect of the film. Finally, I need to mention Jeff Goldblum- any film with Goldblum in it is automatically better in my opinion, and it was terrific seeing him here, even if the role was pretty small.

The story is pretty interesting. It's really an underdog story- a struggling television producer gives everything she has to a job no one believe she's right for, in order to turn around her own fortunes. It's hard not to root for the main character in this story, and it helps that McAdams is fairly likable in the film. The writing was fairly good, and I did laugh a number of times. Now, this isn't to say the film has no flaws. There are a few too many cliches and things that just feel tired. While the story is entertaining, I never really felt any true emotional connection to the characters. Harrison Ford tends to overact.

While I wouldn't say I loved this movie, I was impressed with how much I did like Morning Glory. This is a funny, heartfelt story that features memorable characters and was entertaining. I would certainly watch this movie again. Sure, it might not have been a great movie, but it is a solid, enjoyable one. This film pleasantly surprised me.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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