Film Review: MORNING GLORY (2010)

Director: Roger Michell
Running time: 104 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 12

Genre: Comedy/Romance/Drama
UK Release date: 21^st January 2011

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 3^rd December 2011.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

This is not the kind of film I would usually seek out; as some of you may know I’m not a massive fan of comedies, particularly Hollywood ones. That said, I do remember the critics giving the performance of Harrison Ford a bit of praise and so, as a bit of a fan of Mr Ford, I thought I’d give it a look. Well, as Hollywood comedies go, this one wasn’t too bad; I remember laughing out loud at least three times! I will give you my thoughts after this brief summary.

Having just lost her job, young TV producer Becky Fuller lands a new job at a New York based Network channel, IBS (yes, IBS, no misprint), where she has to rescue an ailing breakfast TV show. Her boss, Jerry Barnes, hasn’t given her long to turn the show around and so she goes in and immediately fires one of the anchors. She is allowed to replace him, but she can’t spend any money. She discovers that veteran newsman, Mike Pomeroy, is on contract to the studio and so she hires him. Things do not get off to a good start when fellow anchor, Colleen Peck, another veteran, does not get on at all with Mike. Eventually they are ready to go but Mike will only do hard news stories and everything looks doomed until Becky has a revelation… I won’t say much more, but needless to say there is the obligatory romance brewing in the background… Ok, no more or the Spoiler Police will be axing my evening slot on the Late Late Late Late show.

The film looks great with some nice exterior shots of New York featuring quite prominently. Birds seemed to feature quite a lot as well (for some reason). I did notice that one of the producers was J.J. Abrams, so I’m not surprised it looked so good. As far as performances go, well, Rachel McAdams did a decent job as Becky Fuller, as did Patrick Wilson as her love interest, Adam Bennett. Jeff Goldblum was efficient as her boss, Jerry Barnes and I thought John Pankow played her exec producer, Lenny Bergman very well. Finally, I have to praise both Harrison Ford as Mike Pomeroy and Diane Keaton as Colleen Peck. Both were outstanding and (for me) made this mediocre film (IMO) watchable.

I guess it is the subtle humour, combined with the two stand-out performances that swung it for me. It’s a fairly run-of-the-mill plot that doesn’t exactly tax the grey matter, but when you add to the mix someone like Harrison Ford it gives it a different dimension. I think you can probably guess that I quite liked this one. It’s not perfect though; I found the character of Becky far too perky at times, but McAdams did manage to carry it off (just). And so, unusually for me, a Hollywood comedy is deemed… Recommended, if only for the two stand-out roles and some subtle humour.

My score: 6.9/10.

IMDb Score: 6.5/10 (based on 18,852 votes at the time of going to press).
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1126618/

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 54/100 (based on 167 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/morning-glory-2010/

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FAVOURITE QUOTES:
Mike Pomeroy: I'm not saying the word fluffy!

Mike Pomeroy: You know what I've noticed, people only say "lighten up" when they're gonna stick their fist up your ass.

Becky Fuller: I will have you know that this show is very important to a lot of people, including, but not limited, to me! My ass on the line here.
Mike Pomeroy: Actually, your ass is irrelevant. You're just a footnote. It's my ass. My reputation. My integrity.
[pats his buttocks with both hands]
Mike Pomeroy: . MY ASS!

LINKS:
Official Site: http://www.morningglorymovie.com/#home
Trailer: