It’s been more than 20 years since the uproarious Broadcast News proved that looking behind the scenes in television could be entertaining; now a new romantic comedy called Morning Glory has the same idea, and in its pursuit Rachel McAdams gives the kind of performance that makes a movie star. The rest of the film, unfortunately, isn’t up to her level.
McAdams plays Becky Fuller, a young woman of endearing energy and liveliness. Nothing, but nothing, gets her down for long.
Fuller’s great passion in life is being a morning-news producer, a job that pretty much eats her alive. She catches the eye of a network executive, played by Jeff Goldblum, who is looking for someone to revitalize a struggling morning show that is perpetually last in the ratings race. “It’s a source of constant humiliation,” he tells her. “Last year in the network softball league, the CBS team wore hats that said ‘At Least We’re Not Daybreak.’ “
The show’s co-host, gamely played by Diane Keaton, is the sort of morning-TV pro who is so up for anything that she’ll put on a fat suit to face a sumo wrestler, don a tutu to dance ballet with preteens or kiss a frog on live TV if that’s what it takes to goose ratings. But it’s not enough, so to help the show out, Fuller strong-arms a legendary newsman to be the latest in Keaton’s string of co-hosts. Pomeroy, played with cranky conviction by Harrison Ford, has real contempt for morning news — and he’s not afraid to show it.
“I’ve won eight Peabodys, a Pulitzer and 16 Emmys,” he scowls. “I was shot through the forearm in Bosnia, pulled Colin Powell from a burning jeep; I laid a cool washcloth on Mother Teresa’s forehead during a cholera epidemic.”