Harrison Ford Is Endearingly Irascible in Morning Glory

I’ve been taking full advantage of Netflix this month as I master the art of long-distance synchronized movie viewing. Two people with Netflix Instant Viewing accounts have a wealth of movies available to them at their fingertips, and while we’ve mostly switched off watching movies as least one of us has seen before, Morning Glory was entirely new to both of us. In fact, I’d never even heard of it before. While there’s nothing terribly noteworthy or groundbreaking about it, this is a fun flick anchored by Harrison Ford’s performance as a grave, gravelly newsman who has been relegated to the role of frothy morning anchor.

Rachel McAdams stars as plucky producer Becky Fuller, who is hired to reverse the flagging fortunes of the titular news program. She knows she is going to have to make dramatic changes if she is to beat the odds, which are heavily stacked against her, and one of her first moves is to axe sleazy, self-absorbed anchor Paul McVee, played by Ty Burrell. Because I’m used to him as goofy, ingratiating dad Phil on Modern Family, it surprised me to see him in such a distasteful role, but he certainly comes across as sufficiently obnoxious.

With Paul out the door, Becky must scramble to find someone else to cohost alongside Colleen Peck, the rather divaish anchor zestily played by Diane Keaton. Everyone, particularly her resigned boss, Jerry Barnes, portrayed by a deadpan Jeff Goldblum, pooh-poohs the idea of bringing in veteran talking head Mike Pomeroy, who has won numerous awards for his journalistic prowess but is now considered all washed up. He’s none too enthusiastic about the prospect either, but contractual obligations compel him to comply with Becky’s request. Will he be just what the network needs to turn the show around, or is she biting off more than she can chew with this surly senior?

This is a cute, lightweight movie about a career-driven young woman and a sterling broadcaster learning from each other. While there is a romantic component to the film, that relationship never feels as compelling as the peculiar bond that Becky and Mike share. Once a heroic figure to her, Mike now is the source of most of her frustration, to say nothing of Colleen’s. Their testy banter is the source of much mirth, and Ford in particular can be counted upon for humor just about every time he opens his mouth to say something ornery, though there is a heartwarming element to his performance too as he gradually lets his guard down. It’s a little strange to see him playing such an elderly character, but while Mike’s actions may be more sedate than blasting Imperial starships or dodging snakes en route to ancient treasures, his mind is as sharp as Indiana Jones’ whip.

While McAdams is likable, albeit a bit exhausting, as this blazing ball of ambition, the most amusing character after Mike is Ernie Appleby, the hapless weatherman played by Matt Malloy. As Becky seeks to punch up the morning programming, poor Ernie is called upon to do ever more absurd tasks, and one wonders how far his geniality can stretch when he clearly is not particularly thrilled with these assignments.

This isn’t the sort of movie that people are likely to be talking about much in 20 years. Nobody seemed to be talking about it when it came out two years ago. Still, it’s got a strong leading trio and lots of zingy dialogue, and it shines an amusing light on the tug-of-war between hard news and entertainment that all morning shows must deal with. I wouldn’t call it glorious, but Morning Glory is a fun diversion.

The Family Stone

In The Family Stone, a dysfunctional family convenes for Christmas, where a dark secret ultimately brings them closer together.

"Nothing Improves a Movie Like Low Expectations."

If you scroll through my movie reviews, you will likely notice that almost all of them bear a four- or five-star rating. There are two major reasons for this. The first is that I try to look for the good in things. I’m willing to overlook a lot of bad stuff if I ultimately enjoyed the movie more than I hated it. The other reason is that I rarely watch movies that I think I won’t like. Once in a while, though, I figure I might as well increase my credibility by going to a movie that I’m sure will earn a miserable review from me. So I didn’t complain much when my friend suggested going to see Wedding Crashers, a film I had pinned as one of the most disgusting of the summer. “But what if you like it?” my brother queried just before I left. “Well,” I replied, “I shall be very disappointed.”

Pile on the disappointment.

The film opens with John Beckwith (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) hard at work at their job, pretty much the only time this happens in the movie. Right off the bat it is easy to see that the two are good buddies. It also seems that their success in their career is based upon their immense capacity to irritate whoever they are advising. John hangs back a bit, only inserting occasional comments, but Jeremy talks with the speed of the Micro Machine Man, and each thing he says makes less sense than whatever came before. His motor-mouth tendencies come up several times in the film, causing several tirades that are somewhat amusing but more obnoxious. His frenetic energy makes him the more annoying of the two, though I’ve yet to see a movie in which I don’t find Wilson irritating. It’s harder to pinpoint just why, but I think it has to do with an overall aura of ditziness. Actually, for the most part he came across more intelligently here than he usually does, and there was an undeniable sweetness to his character. And while I didn’t like Vaughn’s character much, I had to admire his loyalty and feel sorry for him when John was too head over heels to be sensitive to his friend’s needs.

The premise of two guys crashing weddings in order to hook up with vulnerable young women is a pretty crude one, but the extensive montage scene showing how they achieve those goals is amusing and ingenious without being offensive, at least until the last minute or so. This is where the men’s real talents come to the forefront, and they manage to ingratiate themselves to a wide variety of guests, becoming the life of the party whether the wedding is Jewish, Indian or Greek. They show such congeniality, restraint and charisma during these receptions, it’s a shame such talents are reserved for ultimately unscrupulous activities. I couldn’t help but think of all the great things they could be doing if they focused their skills more appropriately.

The real conflict begins after the exhausting but exhilarating summer wedding season is over and they are settling back into a more relaxed lifestyle. But the wedding of prominent Secretary Cleary’s (Christopher Walken) daughter draws them out of their off-season leisure, and the high stakes and change of pace seem to impinge upon their decorum, at least at the wedding. Their barely whispered discussions in the church pew are jarring and most unseemly for the setting, though I couldn’t help but be amused by their wager over which biblical lesson the bride’s sister would read. The movie as a whole makes some interesting observations about the traditions involved in weddings – and the frequent insincerity of the guests. There’s a certain cynicism to it, but at the same time you walk out of the movie with the feeling that marriage is an institution to be respected.

John and Jeremy both lay eyes early on their quarry. Both make a connection by the reception. Jeremy achieves his ultimate goal but finds his plan has backfired. Gloria (Isla Fisher), sister of the bride, is smitten with him – is in fact obsessed with him to a psychotic degree. Worse, he cannot beat a hasty retreat because John has forged an emotional bond with Claire (Rachel McAdams), also a sister of the bride, and he wants some extra time to get to know her better. She has ceased to become one-night stand material; John, perhaps for the first time in his life, is in love. What follows is a weekend with the rather deranged family in which John sneaks in as much time with Claire as he can, Jeremy endures any number of dangerous and uncomfortable situations in the name of not abandoning his friend, and Claire’s boyfriend Sack (Bradley Cooper) hires a detective to see what these two newcomers are up to.

Probably my favorite character in the whole shebang is Secretary Clearly. Walken has a knack for creating compelling supporting characters, and he makes the senator a consummate politician and sportsman, but above all a completely devoted father. His scenes with McAdams are especially touching. He’s stuck with a tipsy wife (Jane Seymour) who confides that she has been unfaithful to him for most of their marriage. She seems severely unbalanced and spends most of her on-screen time trying to seduce John. Perhaps even more disturbing is Grandma Mary (Ellen Albertini Dow, as vitriolic here as she was sweet in The Wedding Singer), who is uncouth and vocally homophobic and, as my friend pointed out, really could have been excised from the film entirely with no detriment to the plot. They probably could have done away with Todd (Keir O’Donnell), the brooding black sheep of the Cleary family, altogether. He is a leering, unkempt presence, and though I initially wanted to feel sorry for this unappreciated artist, he was too surly and downright creepy to win points from me. His main purpose, I guess, is to make Jeremy also suffer through seduction from a most unwelcome family member, but he has to put up with so much anyway, this seems most unnecessary. Rounding out the loony bin is Sack, who’s a stereotypical svelte, controlling jerk who takes his girlfriend for granted but sees red if he thinks anyone else might have his eye on her. His cocky attitude and constant bullying make him a guy it’s easy to love to hate.

For the most part, I found Gloria to be utterly obnoxious, but I guess that’s okay because I felt the same way about Jeremy. The two are suited to one another. Claire is an entirely different story. This is McAdams at the most likable I’ve seen her. Too manipulative in Mean Girls, too volatile in The Notebook, here she is just a sweet, idealistic girl who loves her dad and is stuck with a major bummer of a boyfriend who the whole family seems to love. She thinks she loves him, but the more she sees of his vicious behavior towards the two mysterious guests the less sure she is. Cut out all of the gross-out trappings, and Wilson and McAdams create a surprisingly tender romantic comedy.

I had heard enough about this film beforehand that I expected non-stop opportunities for me to wave a hefty bag of popcorn in front of my face in order to shield my eyes from the depravities occurring on screen. What I got was long stretches of film that were hardly offensive at all, with a few extremely tasteless scenes thrown in so the group of guys roaring in the back row of the theater wouldn’t feel as though they had wasted their money. If TBS got its hands on this, strategically removing the most blatantly low-brow parts and smoothing over the raunchy language, it would probably be a perfectly appropriate film. Granted, if I hadn’t been so sure I would hate it, I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much. But however I got there, I arrived at the conclusion that Wedding Crashers is actually a decent movie. Sorry, Epinions, looks like it’s going to be another high rating from bilbopooh.