MORNING GLORY Review

I thought this looked rather promising from the first trailer. It is an interesting area of broadcast journalism to document and with Rachel McAdam's leading this film with one of her best performances of the past few years it is a really fun and entertaining watch. Though she was fine as Downey's love foil in 'Sherlock Holmes' but her notebook-like, one-note character in the bland 'Time Traveler's Wife' she really needed something to help her get back to those fun days of 'Mean Girls' and 'Wedding Crashers'. She anchors the film well here and without her glowing performance this wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable. And while McAdam's makes this her movie, the highlight for me was the "banter" between McAdam's and Ford who is great in the role of the old curmudgeon who is cranky about having lost his job at the evening news desk and is forced under contract to agree to working at the morning show if he wants to continue to get paid. Director Roger Michell makes the different layers of the story overlap one another effortlessly. Switching from McAdams' Becky Fuller's issues with her relationships, her job and her co-workers we are introduced to several different characters and allowed into many different aspects of her life. From the beginning we know where this story is going, but that doesn't mean the trip isn't fun, in fact I found 'Morning Glory' to be one of the more enjoyable rom-coms/light comedies of this year. It is one I could easily watch over and over because it isn't a film that takes itself too seriously or involves some difficult plot it is instead something that is pleasantly engaging and not the plain chick flick you might imagine it to be. What is a real shame about this film though is the second teer role in which Diane Keaton is given. In a film that contains such a strong central female character I thought the relationship between McAdam's character and Keatons morning show staple and former Ms. Arizona Colleen Peck would have had much more depth and camaraderie to it. They are the ones trying to improve "Daybreak" and are trying by any means to stay on the air. Though Ford's Mike Pomeroy obviously isn't going to make this easy for them I assumed this would have brought them together even more, but that relationship seems to have been dropped in order to document Fuller's outside relationship with the necessary love interest, I understand and can see the reasoning in this, plus casting the extremely likable Patrick Wilson doesn't hurt, but to see this familiar story play out rather than have the two lead women at the morning show work on Ford's Pomeroy until he cares too much about them to not care about the show would have been not only a more original route to go but one that offered more opportunity, and more time to give us a look at the character Keaton only is allowed to show off half the time. Let's not make this too complicated though, 'Morning Glory' was mean to be a fun and time at the movies that leaves you with a warm feeling as you leave and it accomplishes that. No more, no less. It is completely acceptable and its performances edge it just above average.

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