This blog started as my movie marathon — watching a movie a day for a whole year — and has continued as a place for me to write reviews about movies, TV, and various other items.
This is still a work in progress as I migrate from my old platform at Tumblr. For now, you can still access the whole backlog of posts there at http://reelmatt.tumblr.com
An upstart television producer accepts the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program with warring co-hosts.
Year 1, Day 260
BEFORE: Morning Glory is the penultimate film in this leftover chain continuing with films excised from the romance portion of the marathon. Unlike yesterday’s A Walk to Remember, this film was a bit higher up on my “Would Like To Watch” list solely for the fact that it has Harrison Ford in it. That was pretty much my sole criterion for picking this film, and not knowing much else I’m not sure how it will turn out.
AFTER: Morning Glory is more of a comedy than a romantic film. In fact, there really isn’t much romance in it at all; it’s the secondary story and not very important to the film. And that’s good news because the strength of the film is in the characters and the production of the morning show.
Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) is hired as the new executive producer of “Daybreak” and stuck with improving the ratings to keep it from cancellation. Taking a radical new approach, she lures respected evening news anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) to join the program. As I expected and hoped, the best part of the film by far was Pomeroy. Harrison Ford plays this cranky, old, and opinionated anchor to perfection. The humor of the film comes from his expressions and reactions to what they try and make him do for the show. That and the chemistry between him and Becky. Both Ford and McAdams feel like they are a part of the world they live in - the world of news. After watching The Newsroom last summer I’ve been amazed at how much work and how stressful the industry is and Morning Glory nailed that feeling. In fact it’s whenever the film strayed away from the morning show that my interest faded. Becky is an interesting character and her development is important. But her whole relationship with Adam Bennett (Patrick Wilson) seemed unnecessary and forced. Secondary story is a generous term for it; it really feels tacked on and hardly thought about.
All in all, Morning Glory was a very good movie. It made me laugh quite a bit, especially towards the end when some crazy shenanigans occur. The love story between Becky and Adam probably served some purpose for the film but I didn’t see it and felt tacked on as well. Not the funniest comedy ever but one I’d recommend watching at some point especially for fans of Ford - it’s great to see him play a older version of a Han Solo, Indiana Jones.
RATING: 4 out of 5