Thematically, "Morning Glory" supports Rupert Murdoch's reprehensible media model that has all but wiped out news in favor of infotainment. But that alone isn't what makes it a less-than-mediocre comedy. Rachel McAdams plays Becky, a highly caffeinated go-getter who gets a lucky break producing a failing morning television show at a New York network appropriately named "ibs."
Becky isn't above pulling company contract strings to steal away the network's veteran news anchor Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) for her "fluffy" daily program. Pomeroy's celebrated career has bestowed on him a museum's worth of awards whose lacking currency in the new media paradigm has rendered him less than a second class citizen.
Ford plays Pomeroy's whiskey-imbued bitterness for all it's worth as he leverages his contract's face-saving provision that gives him final approval on what stories he will cover. Insult is added to injury because he has to co-host the show with Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) whose ego is every bit as big as his. Constantly ringing cell phones frequently interrupt the would-be comedy that promises to eventually make uncomfortable peace with its disparate characters.
A dim pilot light goes out on a simmering romantic subplot between Becky and network big shot Adam Bennett (Patrick Wilson) because their scenes together never accumulate any meaning. Here is a script where if you took out all the scenes that fail to move the story forward, you would have no movie at all. Dressing Diane Keaton up in a fat suit to battle a sumo wrestler isn't funny; it's depressing.
Rated PG-13. 102 mins.
