Sunday, December 12, 2010

MORNING GLORY

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Rachael McAdams tries to turn a major network’s cellar-dwelling television program into a success in the comedy MORNING GLORY.

McAdams is Becky Fuller, a twenty-eight year old jobless Californian who’s seeking employment after falling victim to budget cuts at a local television station. She sends her resume all over the country, and finally lands a call from a network station based in New York. She lands the job of executive producer of the station’s morning show, Daybreak, and hopes to bring the show’s ratings up from the basement to the top.

She succeeds in coercing former nighttime anchor Mike Pomeroy, played by Harrison Ford, to host the show alongside mainstay Colleen Peck. Despite the all-star team, Mike and Colleen don’t exactly see high to eye.

Becky Fuller is the kind of executive producer anyone would like to have working for them, both in and out of the television industry. She’s devoted to her craft, her crew and she’s so naïve and optimistic that pie-in-the-sky dreams don’t seem like pie-in-the-sky dreams.

She’s also a character who deserves a more honed screenplay. MORNING GLORY is as pleasant as pleasant can be, creating a realistic, yet engaging atmosphere for Becky to navigate. It features a uniformly good cast, with Ford as the old curmudgeon anchor, Keaton the bright-eyed, but jaded co-host and Patrick Wilson as Becky’s charming love interest Adam.

All of the pieces are in place for a top-notch comedy, and there are some wonderful moments laced into MORNING GLORY, but writer Aline Brosh McKenna, and director Roger Michell, aren’t confident enough in the characters they’ve developed. MORNING GLORY goes to great ends to establish who Becky and Mike are, that the film’s glossed-over ending feels false and unsatisfying. Not only does Becky deserve a better outcome, but so does McAdams, who carries the film with a light, but big-hearted performance that is truly memorable.

MORNING GLORY has crafted all the right characters, but doesn't have the confidence to have them stay true to their nature.

Grade: C+

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