Morning Glory
“Morning Glory” is a smart and sassy workplace comedy about an ambitious young producer-played by the ever-delightful Rachel McAdams-who learns to enjoy life as well as do her job. This is not to say the film is particularly funny, but it is minimally engaging most of the way through.
Writer Aline Brosh McKenna is replicating the formula she played so successfully with “The Devil Wears Prada” and “27 Dresses” as McAdams’s Becky Fuller, who dreams of producing for “Today,” is let go by a local Jersey morning show and given a shot at a fourth place network show by a sympathetic boss (the always snarky Jeff Goldblum) because, well, the ratings can’t get much worse. Right? Well, just wait until you see what challenges the show has in store when a long-suffering co-host, Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton), and a set-in-his-ways TV icon, Mike Pomery (Harrison Ford), clash egos on set and off camera.
Director Roger Michell (“Changing Lanes,” “Notting Hill”) keeps the script chugging through cliche after cliche of television movies and romantic comedies. Thankfully, he has a lead like Rachel McAdams whose persona is as adorable as she is beautiful. It’s a real star turn for an actress who has been given as much “eh” material (“State of Play,” “Wedding Crashers”) as she has “A” material (“The Notebook,” “Red Eye”). And she has quite a supporting cast: Goldblum as her boss, Patrick Wilson as her soon-to-be boyfriend, and especially Keaton and Ford, who are old pros at doing what they’re asked to do and doing it well. If I’m not rating this film higher, it is only because however professionally it’s done cannot mask the lack of comic sparks these actors are trying to light.
