20/20 Filmsight - Film Criticism by David O'Connell

Another holiday film and another staggered international release. Morning Glory actually made its stateside debut in November, but you need not worry: it was never going to make the 20/20 Filmsight Top Ten.

In fact, Morning Glory turns out to be a strange and frothy corollary for the very thing it portrays: sunrise television. It attempts to make some comment about the parlous state of newscasting in the 21st century, but how can you attack that topic seriously when your target audience consists of the very people who watch this style of television?

The result is a film that is a tonal and narrative mess. Rachel McAdams plays Becky, a workaholic producer who as a child idolised the hard-hitting style of journalist Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford, who seems to have been asked to do a parody of his infamously grumpy public persona), so when she grew up she naturally dreamed of running the Today Show!

Unexpectedly sacked from her present New Jersey morning gig (why anyone in this day and age would assume an impromptu meeting with the boss could only mean a promotion is the first of the film’s many ludicrous moments), the spunky but desperate Becky takes up the position of executive producer at the fourth-place Today Show wannabe, Daybreak. Once there, she immediately fires one of the hosts, replacing him by blackmailing coercing her idol, the exiled Pulitzer-winning Pomeroy, into entertaining television chefs and b-grade celebrities.

So begins an arm-wrestle between the ambitious EP and jaded veteran journalist, who has never quite recovered from being sacked from his old anchorman post (Why? When?). While working on Daybreak a romance will bloom with a fellow producer (Patrick Wilson), but this is really a rom-com between Becky and Pomeroy, albeit a platonic one.

Unfortunately, there are so many problems with Aline Brosh McKenna’s script that I barely know where to start. Morning Glory feels like its been made in a dry dock, each pre-ordered piece arriving and slotting together in a sufficient but relatively unseaworthy fashion. Besides the fact that the characters are virtually nonexistent, the motivations are all muddled.

Why is Becky so intent on a career in morning television when the reason she got into the industry was ‘serious’ journalism? Why would Pomeroy even consider her morally and contractually dubious offer? Why would he then care about the show if its failure had no effect on his pay rate? Why is Becky’s mother talking her out of her ‘dream’ like she’s 18 when she is in fact a 28 year-old with a significant career behind her? Why was Pomeroy fired? What’s this about Becky’s dad? Why is Jeff Goldblum’s character such an asshole? Why are all the characters such assholes? You sit there with your hands in the air as nothing makes sense.

Then there’s Roger Mitchell’s direction. It spins along professionally enough, but a modicum of inspiration would have been nice. There’s the numerous montages, the All Bran bland office romance, the cookie-cutter Manhattan locations, the soulfuck soundtrack. And why did he allow Ford to do his best impression of Clint Eastwood out of Heartbreak Ridge, only without the hilarious zingers?

Perhaps most damaging, however, is the confusing subtext. Morning Glory lacks the courage of its convictions, splitting the deck between serious journalism and fluff ‘n’ guff morning television. You suspect the filmmakers would like to stick the boot in, but that would alienate the very audience that’s most likely to go along and check this out. It’s thus piercingly painful when, as a last ditch measure, Becky decides to allow her show to get both stupider on the one hand and more serious on the other.

Thankfully, for all the muddling, Morning Glory still has a few tricks up its sleeve. Some of the visual gags are inspired, and make you wonder how this would have turned out if taken straight into Anchorman territory. Wilson too is a happy presence, even if his character receives but a speck of development. McAdams does the most she can with Becky, but the exec producer’s neurotic nature makes it a hard slog for both her and viewers.

If you’re a diehard romcom junkie then you might get something out of this, but Morning Glory is ultimately notable for the film(s) it could have been. Otherwise, this is pretty hard to recommend.



I say: Morning Glory squeezes its star power hard, but what comes out is mostly bitter and tasteless.

See it for: An escalating series of weatherman gags.