Morning Glory - ***+ out of ****

We all know the tired, old formula- Someone has to do a bad job with bad people, their romantic life begins to develop as their job does, they have a great opportunity, their job becomes their baby, and they decide to stay with the job and decide that they're in love. Although "Morning Glory" does use this formula, what makes it a step above most everything else is the fact that it is really, really funny and believable. The characters are well-drawn, the director wisely lets them interact, and the actors do a wonderful job of elevating the material. I highly recommend this movie because it is very enjoyable, not because it'll make you re-examine your life. No, it's not deep, but you'll have fun.

Let's start with the plot. Becky (Rachel McAdams) loses her job as a producer of a local early morning TV show and ends up only being hired by Morning Glory. Colleen (Diane Keaton) has been with the show for most of her life and has been through fourteen (I think) producers, so she pays no mind to Becky. Since she has to get the ratings up, Becky decides to hire Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), a grumpy old man who thinks that people watch C-SPAN for fun. Becky begins to sensationalize the news, strapping the funny weatherman, Ernie (Matt Malloy), to a roller coaster, having him skydive, and various other things. Colleen and Mike hate each other, and Becky begins as their babysitter when neither will go to the other anchor's dressing room to talk. Oh, and Becky begins a romance with Adam (Patrick Wilson).

You can see where the story is going, so I'll just stop. I am tempted to mention some of the many funny parts to the story, but for the sake of not being an alternative to www.themoviespoiler.com, I will refrain. The thing about all of this is that not a single character becomes old or annoying. I was most impressed with Rachel McAdams and how her Becky was written. The character is on the borderline of a psychotic obsession with her work, but the way it's done is actually endearing. She talks too much and occasionally reveals too much about herself when she gets nervous. She feels like the sweet girl you knew in college who was always running somewhere to put her fingers in a dam on one end of campus. She isn't incompetent with relationships but rather has problems juggling both the romance and her work. She truly, honestly loves her work. After reading this over, I didn't make a convincing argument that her character is not a cliche, so I will just say that she has some lovely freakout scenes as well as a great first roundtable meeting.

Then we have the supporting cast. Diane Keaton's Colleen is self-centered, egotistical, and above everyone else. Harrison Ford's Mike is also self-centered, egotistical, and above everyone else. Neither of these characters feel like the other, so when they meet, argue, and bitch about who gets to say 'goodbye' last, you can tell that these personalities are too big for the studio. They're both dead-on and irresistibly vulgar. You wouldn't want to meet either (or perhaps you have in the past), but you understand where either is coming from. Sure, Mike ends up making the biggest change by the end, but it's very believable. Colleen changes what she does but not how she does it. We wouldn't have followed if either character did a 180 at the end, and their abrasiveness is what we look forward to the most.

I will say that the sets were very impressive. Actually, all the technical elements were well in-place. I liked the costumes because they were never distracting, the cinematography because it showed some interesting scenes, and the sets because they made the space look like a real Manhattan backstage. They're dirty, cramped, and not even decent to live in. To make it down the hallway where the food table is, everyone has to dodge each other, and that's what those spaces are really like. Major points for realism.

Perhaps I wanted Mike and Colleen to try to destroy one another more, but that's because I saw a rare opportunity with both characters. You don't come across well-written characters in a situation like they're in that often, so I would have loved to see more of their hostility and passive-aggressiveness. Of course, this runs the risk of turning a good story into something of an "Anchorman" imitator when it isn't appropriate.

I actually bought the romance. Of course, in movies like these, there always comes a time when the lead manages to screw up the relationship with their obsession with their job or the other demands that they change, but this one never quite reaches that point. There's only one brief scene where it seems like it's reached that climactic argument, but it's actually understated. The central focus is Morning Glory, and it was right of the movie to stick with that.

Sure, "Morning Glory" is pure formula, but this has something special about it. I highly doubt that you'll be moved at all, but it is heartwarming. In the end, you may not quite jump for joy, but you'll probably be glad that you spent your last two hours with this Rachel McAdams.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content including dialogue, language, and brief drug references.

Check your local theater for showtimes.