Morning Glory

Morning Glory

Director: Roger Michell

Starring: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton

Morning Glory joins Broadcast News, Network, The Truman Show and A Face in the Crowd as a cinematic tale that looks down its nose at television. Television is depicted as the fodder for the masses, where populism and entertainment are more important than fact and hard news. It's an understandable message, but something that seems a bit rich coming from Hollywood, not exactly a bastion of high culture.

Rachel McAdams plays Becky Fuller, an ambitious young breakfast-show producer who, after getting the boot from her local station in New Jersey, lands a job in New York working on Daybreak, the least-watched breakfast show appearing on national television.

The feisty go-getter gets the job only because her new employer (Jeff Goldblum) knows that Daybreak is likely to be dropped. She begs for the chance to turn the show around and her golden idea to improve the ratings is to employ the hitherto serious news anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) on the show as co-presenter alongside morning show veteran and safe pair of hands Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton).

The laughs, and there are some, stem from Pomeroy's refusal to partake in fluffy stories about cooking or any other lifestyle activities. Adding to her woes, work-obsessed Becky is also trying to find love in the shape of Patrick Wilson's rich, hunky Adam Bennett. It doesn't take a mastermind to work out what's going to happen as Roger Michell (Notting Hill) goes for cheap gag and cliché rather than anything truly incisive.