MORNING GLORY
MORNING GLORY (PG-13 for profanity, some drug reference, sexual content in the dialog): This is a remake of the 1933 romantic comedy about an aspiring actress (Katharine Hepburn, who won an Oscar for her role) out to make it big on Broadway - also made in 1958, a minor disaster with stage actress Susan Strasberg badly cast in the Hepburn role - and now this updated version, with the story moved into the television medium and Rachel McAdams now an ambitious producer who garners high hopes as she pumps up a last-place morning news show.
As Becky Fuller, McAdams becomes the driving success for the show by bringing in an anchor man (Harrison Ford) with a fine track record, but who, unfortunately, clashes with Becky's low aim to please the masses. Soon she begins to seem like a morning glory - bright & beautiful early on, but waning as time wears her down. Only a dues-ex-machina can turn her potential chaos into something that will satisfy everyone. Does it happen? Is the pope Catholic?
Breezily written by "The Devil Wears Prada" Aline Brosh McKenna and breezily directed by Roger Mitchell, with the breeziest cast ever assembled, the film - you guessed it - breezes along at fast clip with enough vim & vigor to last out the 102-minutes of sophisticated, light-hearted but predictable romantic humor. Sorry to say, as lively as she is in the lead and backed by a supporting cast of Diane Keaton, Jeff Goldblum, Paul McVee & Adam Bennett, Ms. McAdams is no Katharine Hepburn, nor does the rest of the cast rise any higher than to aim at the breezy urbanity demanded of them. Ford is crusty, but doesn't appear more than a seething-inside version of former president Bush when told about the catastrophe in NYC. Yes, he's terribly miscast and it's written all over his face.
As Becky Fuller, McAdams becomes the driving success for the show by bringing in an anchor man (Harrison Ford) with a fine track record, but who, unfortunately, clashes with Becky's low aim to please the masses. Soon she begins to seem like a morning glory - bright & beautiful early on, but waning as time wears her down. Only a dues-ex-machina can turn her potential chaos into something that will satisfy everyone. Does it happen? Is the pope Catholic?
Breezily written by "The Devil Wears Prada" Aline Brosh McKenna and breezily directed by Roger Mitchell, with the breeziest cast ever assembled, the film - you guessed it - breezes along at fast clip with enough vim & vigor to last out the 102-minutes of sophisticated, light-hearted but predictable romantic humor. Sorry to say, as lively as she is in the lead and backed by a supporting cast of Diane Keaton, Jeff Goldblum, Paul McVee & Adam Bennett, Ms. McAdams is no Katharine Hepburn, nor does the rest of the cast rise any higher than to aim at the breezy urbanity demanded of them. Ford is crusty, but doesn't appear more than a seething-inside version of former president Bush when told about the catastrophe in NYC. Yes, he's terribly miscast and it's written all over his face.
The original version of the film is dated, but give it a look if only to savor a blossoming Hepburn who really knows how to breeze (Grade: C+)
