From the director of “Notting Hill,” Roger Michell, comes a film that’s inspiring, hilarious and realistic. “Morning Glory,” starring the effervescent, Rachel McAdams, and reputable co-stars Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford, does not fail to entertain. Sure, the beginning of the film has its awkward and unfunny moments, but once Ford’s character, Mike Pomeroy, takes the stage, it’s all an easy laugh downhill. Ultimately, McAdams commands the viewers’ attention with her frantic, yet endearing behavior.
Ford proves himself ridiculously amusing with his crude comments. The film shows how the underdog can become the top dog with a little hard work, luck and confidence.
“Morning Glory” concerns a hard-working TV producer, Becky Fuller (McAdams). Fuller gets fired from what seemed like her most promising job yet, and her career, along with her lifelong dream of becoming executive producer of the Today Show, begins to deteriorate. Eventually, she gets a job offer from the last-place national morning news show, “Daybreak,” but when she accepts the job offer, her career and even love life begin to look up, especially when she hires Mike Pomeroy (Ford) as the new co-host for morning anchor, Colleen Peck (Keaton).
The film takes a twist, though, when Mike, a respectable reporter, doesn’t comply with Becky’s assignments. Eventually, Becky finds herself struggling to achieve a balance between her life and career, trying to save not only her job and the show, but also her relationship with her love interest (Patrick Wilson).
Honestly, the beginning of the film had me weary. To my surprise, Ty Burrell, who is usually quite the comedian on “Modern Family,” completely disappointed me. His character as Colleen’s original co-host of “Daybreak” was less than impressive, and even though he was not meant to be amiable, his jokes didn’t receive any laughs from the audience. Luckily, McAdams’ charisma distracted me long enough for Ford to step in and save the film, while simultaneously outshining Keaton.
Pomeroy, a serious journalist, is forced to take a job at “Daybreak,” which doesn’t cover any “serious” stories, and therefore, his intense personality and mannerisms become quite comical when placed in “silly” situations. Throughout the film, his moans and groans and blunt jokes about the “irrelevant” stories the show covers provide the most comic relief.
Unfortunately for Keaton, his performance pushed her into his shadow, and though she was a wise choice, she did not give a memorable performance.
All jokes aside, the film is actually an inspiring story and McAdams has the audience rooting in her favor.
What’s great about the film is that it doesn’t lose itself by worrying about whether it is entertaining enough with its jokes, sex or drama, but simply tries to be realistic, and it succeeds, making it more entertaining than most comedies.
Editor-in-Chief: Heather Spellacy
Chief Copy-Editor: Burke McSwain
Scene Editor: Tamar Kuyumjian
