Argue with me if you want, but I thought The Devil Wears Prada was a decent film with lots of strong performances. That’s where I stand. With that in mind, you can imagine that I was somewhat intrigued by a film by the same writer, Aline Brosh McKenna. She crafted an enjoyable film with Prada, so there was obvious curiosity to see what Morning Glory had to offer. It’s the same story: a strong-willed girl with ambitions to succeed in business finds her success at the job she isn’t quite qualified for threatened by an ornery and demanding co-worker who seems intent on making everyone around them miserable. McKenna rewrote the story from a magazine setting to fit a television morning show, and simply replaced Anne Hathaway with Rachel McAdams and Meryl Streep with Harrison Ford. Sure, the formula works, just not as well the second time around.
When Becky (McAdams) lands the job of executive producer at the eternally failing morning show DayBreak, she arrives on her first day to find out just how deep the problems of the show run. With a flurry of changes and a can-do attitude, she quickly starts turning things around and brings on former news anchor Mike Pomeroy (Ford), happily living out his studio allotted retirement hunting pheasants, using a condition in his contract. He returns under duress and becomes the onscreen partner to Colleen (Diane Keaton), but with the very overt intention of making everyone’s life a living nightmare until they let him return to inaction. Unfortunately, the show doesn’t improve fast enough and Becky’s boss (Jeff Goldblum) hands her an ultimatum to increase ratings by a certain date or she loses her job. Can Becky rally the troops and achieve the numbers needed to save her job? Can she balance her work responsibilities and her blossoming romance with another producer (Patrick Wilson)? Will she find some compromise with Pomeroy and Colleen? Does she have a future in television?
If you’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada, you’ve seen Morning Glory – and thus you know the answers to the above questions. Rather, you’ve seen a better version of Morning Glory featuring performances this latest iteration can’t produce. Once you’ve noticed the parallels between the two films, comparisons between the acting and direction are hard to ignore. Morning Glory director Roger Michell does a good job keeping things moving quickly, and it never slows down enough to let you get bored. Even if the similarities are impossible to ignore, that doesn’t mean that Morning Glory isn’t enjoyable in its own right. McAdams is near impossible not to like as Becky, and you just can’t help but smile at seeing Harrison Ford give one of his better performances of the last decade. Ford plays the frustrated Pomeroy the right way, giving his obstinate personality justification as a man who’s seen his career fall from great heights only to recover to the level of a co-host on a universally lambasted morning show. Ford plays seething resentment well, but even that can’t fill the gap between his characterization of Pomeroy and Streep’s celebrated turn in Prada. It’s not really his fault so much as it is McKenna’s; the character just isn’t nearly as compelling or developed.
Overall, Morning Glory has a steady stream of laughs and for most will be plenty amusing. The only real faults of the film come from it being a lesser copy of The Devil Wears Prada, but the performances elevate it to a film worthy of watching at least once or twice.
The Blu-ray transfer does little for the film as it almost never attempts anything of any real visual ambition that would make high definition required. The same can be said for sound, unless you need to hear each and every growl of Ford’s performance.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
There’s disappointingly little to be found. A commentary by the director and writer is the only thing worth indulging in (and even it isn’t that great), otherwise there’s a singular deleted scene, which really isn’t worth watching at all.
"Morning Glory" is on sale March 8, 2011 and is rated PG13. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Roger Michell. Written by Aline Brosh McKenna. Starring Harrison Ford, Jeff Goldblum, Patrick Wilson, Diane Keaton.
