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Diane Keeton is joined with Harrison Ford as a new morning news tv show under the direction of newcomer Rachel McAdams in the comedy Morning Glory.

By Maggie Scott

Facing increasingly formidable challenges to keep, let alone attract, viewers who are turning more and more to alternative forms of media delivery systems, network morning shows are looking more and more long-in-the-tooth struggling to stay relevant with their blend of entertainment and broadcast journalism.

Popular hosts, coverage of celebrities and a format geared to short-attention-spans might explain their persistence; but, it’s hard to take them much more seriously than as comforting background noise for people preparing for work.

So, how do you make a film about morning shows something you can care about? Pack Morning Glory with zippy wit, snappy pace and sizzling work by Rachel McAdams as Becky Fuller, a gung-ho young woman who has her saucer-size eyes set on the ultimate prize of a producing place on The Today Show.

Until then, she had been making encouraging progress at a station in New Jersey; but instead of the promotion she thought she had locked up, she’s let go in favor of an MBA who can take over running the place.  For a while, Becky plays the job search game until she gets a call from Jerry Barnes (Jeff Goldblum).

Impressed by Becky’s former boss telling Barnes she was “the most promising producer he’d ever fired,” the IBS network honcho fails to discourage Becky with his offer of half the pay she formerly made and blunt lowdown about the last-place position of the network’s morning show, Daybreak.

Starry-eyed and caffeine-stoked, the new executive producer makes her way through 4 a.m.-New York streets to her first day on the job—only to hear the hearty welcome of “don’t unpack,” from the lobby receptionist; and, “You will fail, like everyone else,” from Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton), Daybreak’s peppery co-anchor.

Facing a blur of challenges, Becky initially scores some points straightening out the indecisive staff working on the show’s “segments” and firing Colleen’s smarmy on-camera partner.  It’s a start, but Becky can’t relax until the ratings are out of the basement.

And, the person to do the hauling?  The “third worst person in the world,” Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford): retired Peabody-, Pulitzer-, and Emmy-winning journalist.  Forced back in front of the teleprompter by a loophole in his contract,

Pomeroy takes every opportunity to show his disdain for the show and its format—from ditching rehearsals, to refusing to say words like “fluffy” on-air.  He couldn’t care less when the network threatens to stop what he considers to be the equivalent of serving junk food.

How does Becky turn this around?  By telling the crew they’re going to “bump it up; every story has to be great.”  Great—as in Colleen kissing frogs, Ernie the weatherman skydiving and getting a tattoo on his butt and Pomeroy doing some guerrilla reporting on racketeering.  The numbers improve, but Pomeroy’s attitude doesn’t.

What will it take to make him a team player and realize he’s making the same personal-life-destroying mistake he made on the way up the media ladder?  Once there’s an inkling that some of this is far-fetched and sappy, and fails to make a case for the value of morning shows, it’s too late, you’re hooked by the sprightly charm of McAdams, the loopy tartness of Keaton and the gruff bad boy of Ford.

A Paramount release, rated PG-13 for language, adult content.

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