Film Review: Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams Charm in ‘Morning Glory’

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CHICAGO – The Holiday Season for films is populated by epic crowd pleasers and artsy Oscar bait. In between are the warm popcorn movies that don’t attempt to be anything except what they are. Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Patrick Wilson illustrate that cinematic point in the appealing and accessible “Morning Glory.”

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Strangely, Morning Glory is a somewhat “anti-Network.” Instead of showing the decline of national discourse through the substitution of fluff for news media substance – as the 1976 classic film diatribe “Network” expressed – this film asserts that the morning show (think “The Today Show”) method of infotainment is the new normal, and serious news is the rejected outsider. Which was exactly what Network predicted. Welcome to 2010.

Harrison Ford is in full bore old man curmudgeon mode as Mike Pomeroy, an old guard news anchor like Dan Rather who has been unceremoniously bounced from the evening news on the IBS Network. IBS also has a traditional morning show, called Daybreak, that has been on the air for 47 years. It is currently being hosted by Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) and is dead last in the ratings.

Enter Becky (Rachel McAdams), the perky producer who has just been downsized from a local New Jersey morning show, and is desperate for work. After interviewing with a skeptical network honcho (Jeff Goldblum), she is given the executive producer position on Daybreak, and has a specific timeframe to turn around the abysmal rating numbers. At the same time, she meets a fellow IBS employee named Adam (Patrick Wilson), and worries about starting a relationship in the midst of her new job.

Seeking a new direction for Daybreak, Becky discovers a clause in Mike Pomeroy’s contract that says he has to accept a network offer, or forfeit his severance. When the hard news anchor meets the soft squishiness of morning television, more than a few clashes are bound to take place.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Morning Glory”

Some Rise: Rachel McAdams as Becky, Diane Keaton as Colleen and Harrison Ford as Mike in ‘Morning Glory’ Photo credit: Macall Polay for © 2010 Paramount Pictures

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Morning Glory”