the m0vie blog

Early in Morning Glory, our plucky female lead (TM) is interviewing for a position at a major morning show. Asked to outline her vision, she states that “no story is too high or too low” for the show to tackle. Unfortunately, the film makes it clear that the emphasis on that last part. Because this is exactly what we need – a movie about how morning shows aren’t dumb enough.

It's a news day...

On one level – on its least offensive level – Morning Glory feels like The Devil Wears Prada, with a newsroom theme (and a bit less humour). It’s got all the same elements – a young idealist landing what should be a dream job, but having to deal with a work colleague from hell. Here, the movie was swapped Meryl Streep for Harrison Ford. Ford plays celebrated journalist Mike Pomeroy (nicknamed “Pomerhoid” because he’s so difficult to work with), who get benched for wanting to cover “real” news, and finds himself recruited to co-anchor a morning show. He clearly doesn’t want to be there, and Ford is so effective at portraying the character’s frustration that one wonders whether he really wants to be on this film. Ford plays the curmudgeon well, and has great chemistry with Diane Keaton (playing his co-anchor).

The rest of the movie does not work so well. And, unfortunately, there’s quite a lot of stuff which falls into the “rest of the movie” bracket. We follow Becky Fuller, who is played ably (if not spectacularly) by Rachel McAdams. Fuller has the worst interview skills I have ever seen in a fictional character. Garth from Wayne’s World handles himself better. It’s not even awkwardly humourous… it’s just bad. Anyway, things in the movie seem to happen not because the characters have any reason to make them happen, but simply because they need to happen for there to be a movie. So, Jerry Barnes (a surprisingly dull Jeff Goldblum) gives Fuller a job she’s clearly not qualified for (and interviewed horribly for), in order to make sure the movie happens.

On her first morning, Fuller fires the current co-anchor (played by the always effective Ty Burrell) because he’s “toxic” for moral on the show. Given his foot fetish and porn habits, I can see why. However, she then hires Pomeroy for the job. When Pomeroy refuses, she strong-arms him – citing his contractual obligations. So, if his predecessor was bad to moral, how is Pomeroy any better? He’s a prima donna talent who thinks the show is beneath him and who refuses to work with others. You get the sense that the original anchor didn’t refuse to say “fluffy” or attend rehearsal. It’s a move which doesn’t make sense in the context of the film, but which we need to work in order for there to be a movie.

The movie openly mocks Pomeroy for his arrogance. He’s a “real” newsman who reported from Bosnia, but wants to do stories on things as boring as tax audits and financial services. He’s portrayed as an old fogey, out of touch. In fact, the recurring point of the movie is that Pomeroy needs to “loosen up” and host the morning show.

Can I a-Ford to make jokes at his expense?

The film seems to hate itself. It really does. It seems awkwardly ashamed of its subject matter, conceding what a sad world that morning television is – as the host makes paper mache or the weather reporter raps. The movie appears to have genuine disdain for the sort of banal stories which pass for “news” on the morning show. Even the characters admit that things need to change.

However, the changes the movie suggests serve to simply lower the bar even further. Diane Keaton in a sumo wrestling suit. The weather man broadcasting live from a roller coaster. Diane Keaton kissing a frog. And the public laps it up. When Fuller discovers that the bitter bickering between the two anchors is driving ratings, she actually encourages it, despite the fact that it’s probably as poisonous to crew morale as a pervy foot fetish. In short, despite the fact the movie laughs at how banal and “pandering” morning television is, it insists on setting the bar even lower.

It’s never really suggested that Pomeroy might be able to raise the standard of the broadcast. The insinuation is that viewers are too dumb to handle genuine and important news. The movie does suggest that Pomeroy can report some news – he hijacks a news crew to report on corruption from the State governor – but even then the broadcast isn’t interested in his investigative journalism. As he accuses the governor of racketeering, Fuller’s ears only perk up as he mentions that there might be “hookers” involved. Because government corruption is only worth reporting if there are hookers.

Don’t get me wrong. Perhaps there’s a defense to be made for this kind of broadcast. Maybe the film could argue that it makes people happy or it grants them a sense of security – that perhaps there’s some mitigating factor which makes the pandering okay. That there’s a reason that people won’t respond to intelligent debates or ideas. We don’t get that. The movie isn’t concerned with explaining that, which is its potential flaw. Instead, it suggests that morning television is dumb… and we should all just go with it.

It’s a bad film, and an offensive one. In fairness, at least it’s smart enough to avoid pushing the romantic subplot to the forefront. Instead, the romance just plays itself out fairly mundanely in the background. It’s not exciting, but at least it doesn’t eat up screen time or force itself to a ridiculously awkward third-act climax. Plus it features Patrick Wilson, so I have no problem with that.

Morning Glory has an impressive cast, but is not half as aggressive as it needs to be. Like its lead, it insists on being inoffensive – which is ironic, because its conclusions and observations on mainstream media make it unavoidably offensive.

See what other Irish reviewers had to say about the film at Cine.ie.

Filed under: Non-Review Reviews | Tagged: american chat shows, american media, Devil Wears Prada, Diane Keaton, films, harrison ford, jeff goldblum, lowest common denominator, media, meryl streep, Morning Glory, morning shows, Movies, news, non-review review, rachel mcadams, review, Ty Burrell |