Morning Glory

Becky Fuller, a young television producer who has just been laid off, is handed a morning show with terrible ratings. Her solution is to install a retired, arrogant hard news anchor who despises morning television and is contractually obliged to show up. The idea draws on Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys. Aline Brosh McKenna wrote it after The Devil Wears Prada, and the same vein runs through it: comedy about surviving a workplace. Rachel McAdams leads, and Roger Michell had to talk her into it because she doubted she was any good at comedy. Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton work together here for the first time in their long careers. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 57 percent. Critics liked the cast while noting the film is light on media accountability next to Network or Broadcast News. Roger Ebert gave it three and a half stars and said McAdams transforms it. On a 40 million dollar budget it grossed around 60 million worldwide, opening at number three and underperforming. Who it is for: fans of workplace comedy and of McAdams. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a serious look at how news falls apart. The film raises that and retreats into romantic comedy.