Visitors Review

(2012-05-26 15:44)

so very very bad

I like all the actors but this was just bad...bad script...bad directing...bad editing. DO NOT waste your time on this movie. Lets hope that they do better next time.

dropo59tx (2012-05-26 03:38)

Instant Remake

I think I'm the first to remark on this, but I'm sure it will becomethe standard line on Morning Glory: it's a very close "instant remake"of writer Aline McKenna's Devil Wears Prada. There are enough mildtwists in the film that that characterization is no "spoiler": you cantell as much from the trailer and initial write-ups. Career girl,unlucky in love, takes on an impossible job and spars with embitteredindustry legend. If you liked The Devil Wears Prada, you'll like thisone (it's pleasantly acted and moves along briskly), but it willcontain no surprises at all. And I'll also say this: for many reasons,the fashion industry was a much better setting for the story. The TVnews business is inherently "important," so even if Harrison Ford asthe crusty old anchorman is self-important, you aren't reallyconflicted about his values. But by contrast Meryl Streep's characterin The Devil Wears Prada, immensely conceited about something that mayor may not really "matter," had an interesting edge to it. You thinkmore about Anne Hathaway's character and her decisions than aboutRachel McAdams in Morning Glory and hers. Though that's partly theeffect of having seen pretty much the same movie over again in MorningGlory.

Joshua Starnes (2012-05-24 14:47)

You don't watch stuff like Morning Glory for intelligent commentary on modern life and everyone involved is aware of it ... while there's been good, sometimes funny drama about the collision of news and entertainment never has it been so pointless.

Graham Young (2012-05-24 10:32)

Morning Glory would have been more amusing if it wasn't so contrived. And if Harrison Ford hadn't become so entrenched in playing the grumpy old man he was in Extraordinary Measures last year.

karlcharlotte-1 (2012-05-21 19:00)

perky perky and more perky

Morning Glory / Rated PG-13 for language, one of the main characters inher underwear and some drinking and talk of drugs. Rachel McAdams playsperky 28 year old Becky, hard working All American girl TV news showproducer. RM herself will be 32 on 11/17/2010 but that's close enough.She is fired from her morning news/feature show in a small New Jerseymarket and is on the hunt for a job. In NY she is offered a positionwithout much chance of success on a major TV network the fictional IBSwhere complications ensue. There she runs into a cast of also rans.Last in the morning sweepstakes ratings the show is called MorningGlory. Diane Keaton is the anchor along with a host of other not sogreat TV personalities. RM under threat of cancellation by her new bossJeff Goldblum finds a contractual clause in the agreement withlegendary newsman Harrison Ford. She pressures him into joining theshow. He doesn't like it. HF plays an irascible character, non smilingand always in ill humor. DK is the beleaguered co anchor who is incompetition with HF over who gets to say "goodbye" at the end of theshow. Everything turns from bad to worse. RM's dates don't turn outwell. Like Rodney Dangerfield she "gets no respect". The movie movesalong okay for 70 minutes then the script goes from adequate to forestfire fast. RM tries some new ideas and the show starts to show anincrease in the ratings. The last 25 minutes are full of hilarity andthe characters joining together to make the show work and the audiencelaugh. She succeeds. They succeed. We all get to laugh a lot. Hersuccess is never really in doubt but the way it's done works well allaround. HF and DK are dead on. JG is fine in his role as the boss. Thesupporting characters on the show are all superb in adding just theright amount of support and humor at the same time. RM who recently hadthe plum role of Sherlock Holmes nemesis and dream lady in the RobertDowney and Jude Law version of SH playing Irene Adler is supposedlyreturning to that role again in the first of two sequels coming up in2011 and later. I would also like to see her back as Perky Becky. Rated3.0 out of 4.0 early mornings. Goodbye.

(2012-05-21 13:57)

Heart warming.

This Movie is a KEEPER! The movie is kinda a love story which is not necessarily about the polarized News and a little bit like the movie `Working Girl' but other than that I can't tell you anymore without spoiling it for you.

(2012-05-21 17:01)

Feel Good movie

This review is from: Morning Glory (Amazon Instant Video) I wanted to see this in movie and didn't get a chance so I was glad to see in here. I enjoyed it all good story line, music, nothing bad to say at all, and I have already recommended the movies to family and friends. Watch it!

delightful-life (2012-05-21 03:27)

The Power of Perseverence

This is another highly underrated movie.We all want to be successful, but why aren't we all? This movie showsthe kind of dedication you need. About finding something that you loveand just loosing yourself in it.Rachel McAdams has put in a lot of effort into this and it reallyshows. This is the best movie I have seen of her. The entire cast isgood! The theme of the movie is a lot like the underdog sports team whotriumphs in the end, I guess its this that has given the show a lowrating. But thats totally misleading.The difference here is that, unlike the sports movies where we knowexactly how its going to end, here because we haven't seen many newscaster/producer (my first) movies, 'most' things are new and it wasentertaining throughout, the music was really good too.The above theme doesn't matter at all because here they do a lot ofcharacter development and we really loose ourselves in the RachelMcAdams/producer character and I have a new found appreciation of whatgoes on behind the scenes on TV.Good movie - worth it.Rating - 8/10.

Joe Neumaier (2012-05-19 15:38)

Ford is the most casual he's been since Working Girl. When he and McAdams spar, you can't help but tune in.

(2012-05-19 04:38)

Didn't hit the mark for me

This review is from: Morning Glory (Amazon Instant Video) I see this has an average of 3 1/2 stars, but I can only give it two. If you are a really big Rachel McAdams or Harrison Ford fan, then it is probably an automatic watch, but I thought the plot did not flow well at all, and for me, was too predictable. Rachel has one great scene in a staff meeting, Harrison has some great rants. Jeff Goldblum may be the highlight of the film, his minor supporting role is so well delivered that I found myself wanting to see more of his character. The film ends predictably for me. Overall, I'd say you need some particular interest in one of the stars, or an interest in TV news production to really like this film.

Sean O'Connell (2012-05-17 21:28)

Morning Glory defines "mainstream" cinema, the kind of safe, palatable film you could recommend to someone who has complained that Hollywood (for better or worse) doesn't make them like they used to.

smacarte (2012-05-17 17:33)

Empty, distracted imitation of Melanie Griffith's Working Girl

I like Rachel McAdams and the whole cast, in fact. It's *almost* worthseeing as a study of how a movie can go wrong despite great on screentalent. I've seen 30 minute sitcoms more satisfying than this emptyeffort which has all the components of a film except an actual story.Maybe it was the result of 3-5 screenplays?There's little to hang onto here. It's like the movie makers teasedviewers and promised a real story and then just went ahead with thepieces and comic bits instead. I did appreciate the subject matter,however, which spotlights inane entertainment vs. television news. Sobravo for this.What's funny is that the audience was laughing when news team beganpandering with nonsense. That felt weird. Also there's a romance whichgets about 8 min. of total screen time though its supposed to beimportant. That the actors McAdams & Patrick Wilson had zero chemistrydidn't help. But my main complaint is that the movie never settled intoor on anything. It jumped around and landed on fluffy bits or scenes ofthe lead running on NYC streets reminiscent of Mary Tyler Moore. You'reabout as into the story as possible watching the previews.As for laughs, all goods ones are in the previews. So save time!

sddavis63 (2012-05-16 14:03)

Shallow And Predictable

I can understand when a single big name actor signs on to a dreadfulmovie for the sake of a paycheque. Why not? I do wonder, though, whenthree veteran and fairly big name actors do it. Harrison Ford? DianeKeaton? Jeff Goldblum? OK. I'm not huge fans of any of them and I'vehad mixed reactions to their work over the years, but I can't deny thatthey're pretty big names - and they signed on for this. Did they notread the script beforehand and realize how pathetic this was?Rachel McAdams is the star of this as Becky Fuller, a young producerwho gets a job putting out the worst morning show in the country on thefictional IBS network. Her challenge? Get the ratings up or the show isfinished - and her along with it. She hires big name anchorman MikePomeroy (Ford) to give the show a degree of credibility (gravitas, asit's referred to at one point) only to find that he's a shallow andegotistical twit who won't do any of the things needed to make morningtelevision work, and who makes his attitude toward the show and his co-workers quite clear. Keaton is his co-anchor, and Goldblum is head ofthe network's news department.There's some humour in this - mostly provided by Ford, although attimes I couldn't figure out if his deadpan approach and rather boredlook throughout was his take on the character or his take on the movieas a whole. Goldblum's part wasn't a big one, but Keaton shared a bitin some of the humour with Ford, especially when the two took toinsulting each other on the air, which did make me smile a little bit.But a bit of humour really doesn't save this. McAdams seemed tostruggle valiantly with the role and attempted to inject a little bitof energy into it - which was desperately needed, because this issimply not an energetic movie. Like Pomeroy, it's shallow, it's dulland it's predictable. It's also rather hard to believe that in thespace of just a few weeks, Becky goes from being fired as the producerof a local morning show, to being hired as producer of a networkmorning show to being offered a job with the Today Show. The writersalso decided - for no apparent reason, except that it's apparentlyconsidered necessary in this kind of movie - to throw in a ratherpoorly developed romance for her which seemed to accomplish littleexcept allowing her to shoot a couple of scenes in her underwear. Yeah.She's pretty cute. But that's certainly not enough to save this.This truly isn't worth the effort of watching. (2/10)

(2012-05-15 23:56)

The Perkoholic

I worked in television for several years, and some of my favorite films are about the industry: "Quiz Show", "Good Night and Good Luck", and "Broadcast News". I had high hopes for this comedy, because I've enjoyed the principals in it very much in other films. But "Morning Glory", despite an occasional funny joke (the name of the bottom-tier network featured is IBS---not bad), tries way too hard to compensate for a weak script and a misbegotten message with an superinfusion of perkiness. Rachel McAdams is all-energy, as usual, but here she's addicted to Red Bull. This was obviously an attempt to heighten contrast with the dour, phlegmatic ex-anchor played by Harrison Ford, but McAdam's nonstop perk screams: "I'm the next Meg Ryan!!!". Even the DVD cover accentuates this---she's kicking a high-heel shoe behind her and grinning at us. I wish she had underplayed this role more. I've worked with TV producers; it's a challenging job, and they tend to be grimly dedicated and impatient---Holly Hunter in "Broadcast News" got it just right---not smile buttons. McAdams is a wonderful actress elsewhere; right after I saw "Morning Glory" at the multiplex I rented "The Lucky Ones", a small, terrific movie about a trio of Iraq war soldiers on leave. McAdams plays the one female. From beginning to end she is believable, and at no point does she attempt to win us over with her dimples and beauty and charm. (She's far more appealing because she holds back.) "The Lucky Ones" a road movie, is a lot more entertaining and even funnier than a movie with a war theme has any right to be. Rent it! But that film had a good script, and something significant to say. "Morning Glory" accepts the trivialization of TV news not as a depressing trend, but as blessed relief---let's admit it, we all prefer fluff!!! La la la!!! I kept on waiting for this philosophy to be detonated by anybody but Ford's character, but it never is. He's the gruff sad sack with the antenna stuck up his fanny---the embodiment of rigid principle as killjoy. Ford's occasionally very funny. But in the end, the script requires him to do a turnaround and to respect not only McAdams's determination and hard work, but also the insipid television content generated under her watch. It makes no sense that he'd ever do this. But the movie needed an upbeat ending with the two stars reconciled. "Broadcast News" resisted the temptation to have Holly Hunter and William Hurt go off together at the end. This surely disappointed many viewers, but it was in character....and the movie was a hit anyway. "Morning Glory" has a high gloss, but it wipes clean with a damp rag, and judging by the other reviews I've read online, this squeaky-cleanliness has its devotees.

dennis_chiu1 (2012-05-14 06:04)

B-Movie Glory

As the end credits rolled on "Morning Glory", I was delighted todiscover that Harrison Ford is every bit the leading man today, as hewas in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", even if he is cast in a supportingrole. Despite playing opposite to the luminous Diane Keaton and theeffervescent Rachel McAdams, Mr. Ford was the center of attention. Fromthe moment Mr. Ford's character, veteran news anchor Mike Pomeroy,places his arm through closing elevator doors, he is the heart of thescreenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna. Every other film character istalking about him, being furious with him, or being surprised by him.And, to his credit, Mr. Ford provides a full performance from scowl toquiet reflection on how bad a father he was. Mr. Ford brought necessarygravitas to the role of a hard news anchorman, who has been put out topasture by a news network that only believes infotainment works. It wastruly my honor to see Harrison Ford in fine form again.Unfortunately, there were some basic problems with Ms. Brosh McKenna'sscreenplay; the most crucial mistake was focusing the movie on RachelMcAdams character, Becky Fuller, and not Mr. Ford.Director Roger Michell also seemed to be rusty after his four yearbreak from directing. There were basic mistakes, including the cameralingering on the back of a character's head while that same characterwas talking. This only works when the reaction of the listeningcharacter is more important than the character who is speaking thewords. In the four or so places this occurred, the film seemedamateurish.I do feel that there was a point-of-view (POV) issue throughout thefilm, which could be the result of the POV being unclear in thescreenplay.I do appreciate J.J. Abrams team at Bad Robot for bringing this film tothe screen. However, a more hands-on producer may have caught some ofthe above issues when watching the dailies. Once the dailies revealedthat Mr. Ford's character, like Meryl Streep in the "Devil WearsPrada", was so magnetic on the screen, there probably should have beenan albeit costly, but necessary rewrite.Based on Harrison Ford's performance and three hilarious scenes, oneinvolving a former President of the United States, I do recommend thisfilm to your attention.

Adam Tobias (2012-05-13 10:35)

If Hollywood decides to do a remake of Grumpy Old Men in about 10 years, let me present you with the ideal candidate to fill one of the lead roles: Harrison Ford.

goldiechick (2012-05-13 06:14)

Fun Satire of the Morning News

"Daybreak" pokes pleasant fun at today's 3 morning TV shows and the insand outs of it and the world of television news broadcasting. Itportrays all types of news and society archetypes - the ambitious youngTV producer fired from her local TV station who wants higher ratings(Rachel McAdams), the brash, no-nonsense, seasoned and substantialanchorman (Harrison Ford), the perky female anchorman who smiles ateverything yet is not completely comfortable working with an anchor whodoesn't smile (Diane Keaton), the comical weatherman who breezesthrough forecasts and does humorous on-air stunts (Matt Malloy), theproducer's boss who gets angry when things don't go well (JeffGoldblum), the on-the-job boyfriend who wishes the producer wouldn'ttake her job too seriously (Patrick Wilson), the sexually chargedyounger anchor who the producer fires right away before hiring her themore seasoned veteran anchorman (Ty Burrell), and the producer's motherin a small part who makes her aware of today's unemployment anddownsizing (Patti D'Arbanville). All these people and much moreelements make up "Morning Glory" and tells us about the world that welive in today.McAdams is young Becky Fuller, fired from her local TV station as theproducer in New Jersey, and then gets her big break accepting the jobof a fourth-place morning news show producer at a fictitious TV networkacross from 30 Rock called IBS. That morning news show is called"Daybreak," which relies more on style than substance. Right away,after Becky fires the lecherous anchorman (Burrell), she meets herchildhood idol in the elevator named Mike Pomeroy (Ford). And as muchas she has loved him all her life from afar, he initially doesn'treciprocate his feelings to her. She meets Colleen Peck (Keaton), whodespite her on-air smiles, has a tough edge. She spent 11 years on theshow and has worked with at least 15 anchorman, none who she really gotalong with. Now Peck and Pomeroy meet, she smiles, he grunts, and theyeventually go head to head over their news styles. Ratings are close tocancellation due to clashing anchorpeople in contrast to the friendlyrepartee of Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry, and Al Roker, thatwe get to see every day on "The Today Show," and the silly stuff playedon the show all the time.After an important interview with the governor, where Pomeroy whisksBecky to see the substance of his career, Becky is offered a job as theproducer of the always top-rated "Today Show," and feels that she hadenough of Pomeroy's arrogance and ego, and demeaning attitude towardsher. Predictably enough, Pomeroy loosens up and shares his secrets ofcooking frittatas, something he did share personally with Becky.Ratings soar. We get that conventional happy rom-com ending just as weare always manipulated to believe that the heroine and hero departafter a quarrel in the third act."Morning Glory" won't be as Oscarworthy as "Network" or "BroadcastNews" since both have more substance in them. But despite the fluffynature (a word that Pomeroy avoids), there is more intelligence in thismovie than you would expect. The first rate cast of older pros (Keaton,Ford, Goldblum) and younger rising stars (McAdams, Wilson, Burrell)make it worthwhile, and deliver smart, sassy humor and snappy zingers.

(2012-05-13 01:53)

Great cast in a less than stellar movie

I love the beautiful Diane Keaton. Her style, timing, and delivery are nearly perfect. I'll watch her in almost anything.I used to think the same thing about Harrison Ford. However, Morning Glory isn't one to keep his reputation going for me. Ford's attempt at the curmudgeonly 'star' wasn't interesting. Yes, he was supposed to be irritating--and he was--but my irritation wasn't so much with his character, but with his performance. Mostly, he appeared to have recently sucked on sour citrus to maintain the pinched angry appearance. It's not a good look for him. At the end, I was left with questions about why/how Angela Lansbury was supposed to be the worst there is.

(2012-05-12 17:58)

Finally, a comedy

Becky Fuller (McAdams) takes a job as Executive Producer for themorning TV show Daybreak, which is in last place in the ratings. Shehires ultra gruff veteran TV Anchor Mike Pomeroy (Ford) who only wantsto do hard news, but that is not what Becky wants him for. You can seewhere this won't work out, right?Let's get to the annoying things first. I know I shouldn't have takenout another comedy knowing Hollywood's track record in this area.Terrible comes to mind. Here's the thing: the music was too loud in thebeginning and not catchy. Becky is an aggressive bright-eyed,bushy-tailed go-getter who cannot stop talking at light speed. And, Ithought Diane Keaton's character Colleen who started out on a tearwould overact the rest of the way and this would be a bust. But……………….here's the thing. That stuff I just mentioned didn't last allthat long. Well, Becky is still bright-eyed and bushy tailed andcontinued to talk at light speed, but she is pretty and I had a feelingthis would all work out. Did I mention that she is pretty? The musicsimmered, and Colleen (Keaton) became a normal kind of a bitchy personand the fireworks between Becky and Mike and Colleen and Mike would goon and on and that was fun to watch. And, then……………the second half started and more Yuks,and OMGs came intoplay. And, we had a comedy. Some sight gags helped, the music becamereasonable, and people got along (oh no, not Mike and anyone), butBecky still had the problem of low ratings and Mike wasn't budging tohelp out. I found myself actually laughing out loud many times. What this moviehad was good timing all around and that is what makes comedy - HelloHollywood, can you hear me now? - Okay, the sight gags helped too. And,get this: Harrison Ford's character made the biggest difference becausehe played it straight, gruff, bored and above everything that was goingon around him. He didn't try to be funny. Kudos to him. For the first time in years I actually cared for the people in ….um….acomedy. I wanted Becky to do good and for Mike to come around. I nevercared like that before during a…um….a…..um …comedy. It was unseemly,but there it was. Great script, directing and a great cast and finally,here's the thing: a comedy. Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No F-bombs, some softstuff.

David Ferguson (2012-05-12 06:13)

Are you going to Sing?

Greetings again from the darkness. It would be easy to dismiss thisfilm as typical lighthearted Hollywood fluff that carries no realmessage (other than a 2 hour escape). The interesting thing is thatit's really not an escape - we are tossed right into the workaday worldof a manic TV producer. Additionally, though it has plenty of lightmoments, it also carries a bit of depth in breaking down a couple oflead characters.Rachel McAdams plays Becky Fuller, morning TV show producer. Becky is acute, driven, frantic, EverReady Bunny ball of energy who watchesmultiple TV's and carries on multiple conversations, all while textingincessantly. She is hired by Jeff Goldblum in his final attempt atresurrecting ratings for "Daybreak", a mere blip of competition to "TheToday Show".The story gets interesting when Becky recruits/blackmails news legendMike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) to co-anchor the show with Diane Keaton'scharacter. To compare, Keaton's character will kiss a frog or don apink tutu and has mastered the perpetual smile so necessary for morningTV. Ford's character may not have smiled since 4th grade and views themission of TV as delivering news and hard stories and information.The conflict in the story comes from Ford's character (labeled theworld's third worst person), whom the world has passed by, andMcAdams', who is the eternal optimist. It's pretty obvious they willsomehow save each other, but still I found it entertaining to watch theroad. Thank goodness there was no May-September romance between McAdamsand Ford.The film itself, directed by Roger Michell (Venus, Notting Hill) andAline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada), does a nice job withinsight into those whose personalities are bound tightly to their job.There were a few occasions where the film felt choppy - like somescenes were cut or reinserted, and the music was consistently weak. IAlso could have done with about 8 fewer scenes of McAdams runningthrough New York in her heels - we get that she never stops moving!Even though it's not at the level of "Broadcast News", it offers enoughdepth and comedy to make this a worthwhile film to see.