Coming from Bad Robot Productions, the home of Lost and the Star Trek reboot, I was hoping that the JJ Abrams backed Morning Glory would be a step up from the drab rom coms we've come to expect out of Hollywood recently. Alas, for the most part my expectations weren't met to the standards I'd been expecting, but there were still enough surprises contained within to make it worth the watch.
Morning Glory is a career comedy, much like The Devil Wears Prada, in which an ambitious twenty-something pursues a high profile industry job (in this case, producing an early monrning TV news/magazine programme) at the expense of her private life. It's fluffy, likable, fizzy and frothy with no real weight behind the characters and the industry they work in. Director Roger Michell makes the whole affair look classy, it moves along briskly and the whole film has that Bad Robot sheen of strong colours and lens flares over the credits. The cast are good, and I expected this to be to be a chance for Harrison Ford to get his comedic chops into a larger than life curmudgeon...but he's still too laid back and grumpy for his character to work completely. He should have take notes from Diane Keaton who can do lovable AND unlikable in the same scene.
There are a couple of saving graces. First off, while this has the spinal structure of a romcom, the romance aspects take a backseat. Instead the same romcom structure is transposed to the working relationship between producer Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford...even going so far as one of them making a grand gesture as to the importance of their relationship in order to save it.
The other reason is leading lady Rachel McAdams herself. Like other raves about actresses in this blog (Emma Stone and Anna Faris come to mind), McAdams is an actress who deserves to be big, big, big. Although she's been around for a while in Mean Girls and The Hot Chick, I first saw her star quality opposite Vince Vaughan in The Wedding Crashers. She's cute, bubbly, full of energy, quirky, a smile to die for, unexpected and has a great range as an actress giving her the tools to hit the big time. Furthermore she possess a quality that a successful actress, particularly one working in comedy, that is essential in order to succeed...and that's an ability to not care if you look silly and just go for it. Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway...there's a reason why they're huge stars and that's it (well, they're pretty hot too). And if there's ever a showcase for an actress with mega wattage then it Morning Glory for McAdams. Forget her highly cut role in Sherlock Holmes or her quiet strength in State Of Play...if you want to see a real movie star, look no further than Morning Glory.
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