Morning Glory (Review)

Becky Fuller, the protagonist of the new comedy Morning Glory, is a fascinating character. She is at once determined and naïve to the point of near insanity, yet Rachel McAdams makes her more than a caricature. We have seen characters that are Married to the Job™ before, but Becky feels a sense of passion and obligation to her work. She cannot function unless she gets up several hours before sunrise, planning for the coming show. At the studio she zips around like a horse with blinders. If you were to cut her, she’d bleed caffeine.

For years she produced a morning show for a local station in New Jersey, but one fateful day she is let go in favor of a more experienced producer. This leads her on a résumé-sending blitzkrieg which eventually lands her an executive producer job at a national morning show… a fourth place national morning show that is, called Daybreak. This is a show in freefall, with no budget or credibility to speak of, and it looks more like something I’d see on my local public access station in between the last Board of Education meeting and the elderly women telling me to go with Christ. Becky’s job is to make the Titanic seaworthy once more.

Her first move is to fire the male half of the Daybreak anchoring team Paul McVee, played by the invaluable Ty Burrell, who leaves an enormous impact in negligible screen time. Instead she brings in living legend Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), a renowned journalist who takes the job for the money but has no respect for morning news. He does the show with a reluctant scowl, bemoaning the state of the industry in which he has spent his entire life.

The female anchor is Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton), who likes her job but has no faith in any success. She is one of the people most energized by Becky’s hiring, and before you know it she’s rapping along to “Candy Shop” with 50 Cent. The whole Daybreak team is relatively quick to get behind the Red Bull-ified Becky agenda, because they all truly yearn to make the best out of the show that they can. They even turn the weatherman into the lost cast member of Jackass. Only Mike is holding everyone back.

Above Becky is the man who hired her, Jerry Barnes. He is played by the grotesquely underused Jeff Goldblum, who can manufacture laughs out of less than thin air. He never is that big a fan of Becky, constantly threatening her with cancellation. He is completely and utterly convinced he’s trapped in a collapsing building, but he never expects Becky’s tenacity.

Of course in the middle of all this interesting, funny plot is a love story which redefines bland. Patrick Wilson, who always seems like such a genuinely good actor, seems determined to select parts based on their ability to lack all personality. I never dislike seeing him onscreen, but he has yet to play a character as good as he is (as far as I’ve seen). He plays [Insert Attractive Love Interest Here], who works for a 60 Minutes-type show, but we never really see it. He reaches out to Becky, but she is so obsessed with work that she never has any interest in falling in love. Maybe, just maybe, she’ll change her mind.

Forget all that, because the Daybreak studios are where the real action is, and the film’s true emotional core is the relationship between Becky and Mike Pomeroy. Harrison Ford gives one of his best performances in a while, which is always a joy to see from an actor who has seemingly been on autopilot since the 90’s. When Ford gets a role in his wheelhouse, he knocks it out of the park, but too often he chooses not to swing. Here he is an absolute joy, exuding a devotion to hard news so thick that seemingly no one will be able to get to him. He’s lovably pompous.

In general, the universe of Morning Glory is one I’d like to inhabit. The characters form a perfect little family in the Daybreak studios, and it doesn’t really matter if America isn’t watching all the time. Some of the bumps along the way are predictable, and the final act devotes itself to conventionality a bit TOO much, but the ultimate resolution is genuinely touching. Morning Glory is a winning comedy that doesn’t pretend to make any life-altering statements, but exists solely as solid, funny entertainment that brings out the best of everyone involved. We know where Becky’s emotional journey will take her, but we’re more than willing to come along for the ride.

Rating:  (out of 4)