Morning Glory failed to shine bright at the box office (sorry for the pun), but on home video we now can see the charm and charisma that Rachel McAdams brings to every role while the supporting cast fulfill their parts quite well. However, even though the video and audio transfer are pretty good, there’s very little in terms of features as it seems the studio didn’t want to put any more money into this release than they already had.
Morning Glory (2010)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Comedy, Drama
Paramount | PG13 – 107 min. – $34.99 | March 8, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Roger Mitchell
Writer(s): Aline Brosh McKenna (written by)
Cast: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum
Theatrical Release Date: November 10, 2010
DISC INFO:
Features: Commentary, Deleted Scene
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), Portuguese (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.40
Disc Size: 32.7 GB
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish
Codec: AVC
THE MOVIE – 4/5
Morning Glory I can safely say might be the most charming and sadly overlooked and underrated movie of 2010. The film got lost somewhere in the November shuffle amidst poor advertising with trailers that weren’t sure what to promote and who to promote it to. And that’s unfortunate because while it only went on to make less than $80 million worldwide, it’s a movie that, IMO, deserved more and I hope on home video it’ll get a second chance.
The film centers on morning TV producer Becky Fuller (RACHEL MCADAMS), a woman driven only by her job as she’s set aside any social skills in an attempt for a fulfilling and successful career. Becky is working for a morning show in New Jersey and what she thought would be a promotion to executive producer turned out to be a firing by her boss. Devastated, she is resolved to get back on her feet and gets an interview for IBS’s morning show, “Day Break” which is fourth in the ratings behind the three big networks and has had trouble keeping a good executive producer thanks to low morale contributed by the show’s pompous co-host (TY BURRELL). Anyway, despite his reservations, the program director (JEFF GOLDBLUM) hires Becky.
Her first day there, she realizes the chaos that reigns on the set and after getting the lay of the land she quickly asserts herself by first firing the pompous a-hole which leaves the slot for the male co-host to sit alongside diva Colleen Peck (DIANE KEATON). But she comes up with a brilliant plan: she offers the position to recently fired veteran news anchorman Mike Pomeroy (HARRISON FORD), a man whom she’s looked up to her whole life. Unfortunately she quick discovers the man with a gruff exterior is in fact a gruff man on the inside as well. Through some legal shenanigans in his contract, she is able to persuade him to work as the co-anchor which he bickers about the whole way because of the show’s pointless segments which outweigh actual news coverage.
Meanwhile, Becky finds a possible love connection with Adam Bennett (PATRICK WILSON), a producer at another division at IBS who also worked for Pomeroy and warns her that the man is the third most hated person in the world behind Kim Jong-Il and Angela Lansbury. This is probably the “worst” part of the movie for me, not that Rachel McAdams and Patrick Wilson didn’t have chemistry together – in fact they make for a fine on-screen couple – but there’s the old joke where the guy asks the girl on a date and says it’ll just be dinner and we can “take it slow” and jump cut to the pair making out. It’s an old visual joke yet it apparently works every time…
Morning Glory succeeds not because of the plot, albeit there are some great and funny elements, but because of the quasi-ensemble cast. First you’ve got the great and quirky Jeff Goldblum with what must his most normal role playing Becky’s demanding and straight forward boss. He’s not in the film a whole lot (maybe 10-minutes total) but he does have the screen presence to make an impact. Next, Diane Keaton is probably the most underutilized or underwritten character but she too has some great scenes and although it’s not a noteworthy performance in such a wide ranging career, she certainly seemed to have fun with the limited part. Last is Patrick Wilson who does a fine job as the obligatory love interest (of Becky’s personal life) and it’s an adequate performance but nothing more.
All of those parts, however, take a back seat to that for Harrison Ford and, especially, Rachel McAdams. Ford plays his normal self barking lines like I’ve seen him do in most of his movies from this century seemingly taking some tips from Al Pacino in the art of subtlety. That being said, it works for a character that was a hard-working news anchor dumped down to the basement where entertainment rules. And he and McAdams do have a few heartfelt scenes together.
As for Rachel McAdams, she continues to prove that she is a fantastic actress, one that can overcome average or merely good-enough scripts and take it to another level (see: Red Eye). For me, she has yet to turn in a poor performance even in mildly awful films (The Time Traveler’s Wife). In this film, she shows a wide range of emotions and while there are many instances of exposition – she’s keenly aware of her social shortfalls and lets perspective suitors know it – you can’t help but still be enthralled with her in every one of those scenes. I don’t want to overstate the job she did, but I will say it’s a shame that it didn’t receive more attention especially on the award show circuit, specifically the Golden Globes where somehow Angelina Jolie got a nomination. Yeah, that makes sense.
Despite some obvious plot elements and a predictable outcome and, frankly, safe ending all around, Morning Glory is a true gem in a year with very few heartwarming films which I highly recommend.
The film was directed by Roger Michell who previously helmed the fantastic, if not cliched, Notting Hill starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts and the drama-thriller Changing Lanes with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck. The movie was written by The Devil Wears Prada scribe Aline Brosh McKenna.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1/5
Sadly the only features we get are an audio commentary with Director Roger Mitchell and Writer Aline Brosh McKenna and a single deleted scene (0:46; HD) which is just extra banter between Diane Keaton and Ty Burrell. For what it’s worth, the commentary is decent enough providing tidbits on the screenplay/story, certain shots and more.
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Morning Glory comes to Blu-ray with a mostly vivid 1080p high-definition transfer and in its original 2.40 aspect ratio. The detail levels throughout are quite good though nothing outstanding or noteworthy while colors, albeit seems to be tinged on the warmer side especially with skin tones (this is only on some scenes), still looks good.
AUDIO – 4/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track meanwhile is pretty good but this is mostly a dialogue driven film with some current pop songs (like Natasha Bedingfield’s “Strip Me” song at the end) that make more use out of the other channels.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, Morning Glory failed to shine bright at the box office (sorry for the pun), but on home video we now can see the charm and charisma that Rachel McAdams brings to every role while the supporting cast fulfill their parts quite well. However, even though the video and audio transfer are pretty good, there’s very little in terms of features as it seems the studio didn’t want to put any more money into this release than they already had. So, although I highly recommend the movie, I’d hold off on buying the Blu-ray until it’s a bit cheaper for that reason alone.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 02/25/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.