MORNING GLORY

“MORNING GLORY” (Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford & Diane Keaton)

If they had tweaked this just slightly they could have gotten away with calling it “The Mary Tyler Moore Show Movie”. And that isn’t a bad thing - ‘MTM’ was one of the best TV series ever. But Rachel McAdams’ Becky could just as easily been called Mary Richards; Harrison Ford’s Mike Pomeroy could have been grumpy Lou Grant & weatherman Ernie (Matt Malloy) becomes Ted Baxter. Make Diane Keaton slutty Sue Ann Nivens & Patrick Wilson writer Murray Slaughter & there you go! Of course seeing Mary sleeping with Murray would have been a little hard for us older folk to handle, but hey, if Uhura can sleep with Spock then anything’s possible.
In fact, this film came so close to resembling ‘MTM’ that I thought they should have included a scene where Mike Pomeroy smiles at Becky and says, “You’ve got spunk!”
Then frowns as he adds, “I hate spunk!”
This works as a rom/com becomes it isn’t much of a rom/com – like MTM it’s the story of a newsroom (Or in this case ‘studio’) that is taken over by a young, spunky executive producer (Becky) It then becomes about her life; the fact that she falls for a producer that works on a different show (Patrick Wilson’s Adam) is almost incidental. The meat here is her relationship with the grouchy Pomeroy.
Shortly after being hired by Jerry (Jeff Goldblum) to revitalize morning show ‘Daybreak’, Becky is told that she has to get the ratings up quickly. She makes a major change her first day on the job & then pulls legendary ‘hard news’ reporter Mike Pomeroy into the co-host seat where he doesn’t want to be – but his contract doesn’t contain the loophole needed to get out of the job. Unfortunately for Becky the off air banter between Mike & long-time hostess Colleen (Diane Keaton) is more lively than the on air babble (Mike answers Colleen’s first question by saying, ‘Yes’)
The entire cast plays together well, but Matt Malloy’s dorky weatherman Ernie steals the show when Becky decides to stop playing it safe by putting Ernie in undesirable positions; his first, going for a ride on the world’s fastest roller coaster is absolutely hilarious. Then Colleen tells Becky she wants in on the goofy antics as well & the show’s ratings begin to climb – but will they rise fast enough for everyone to keep their jobs? That, as expected, comes down to whether or not Becky can get Mike to play ball. Just when she thinks she has him in the right frame of mind, he turns the tables on the young producer by coming up with a ‘hard news’ story.
Patrick Wilson plays Becky’s love interest with just enough sarcasm to make him likable & ‘real’. When Becky happens to bump into Adam & Mike in the elevator after her job interview & she gushes over Pomeroy, Mike asks, “Is she one of yours?” & Adam responds, “No, I’m just here to show her how to work the elevator.”
Adam & Mike have a history; Adam repeatedly calls him ‘The Third Worst Person In The World’.
Sure, it’s light & breezy & Rachel plays Becky like someone who could turn the world on with her smile, but the dialogue is often witty & when you see half of Becky’s naked butt poking out from her lingerie you realize this is one chick flick that us dudes can appreciate as well.
It’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a Rachel McAdams project this much, but with “Morning Glory” I’d sing to her – “You’re going to make it after all” . . . .

Meow.