There are four distinct types of comedies. There are those who rise above the rest, the good ones, the ones that go for cheap laughs, and the just plain bad ones. Morning Glory fits into the second of these categories, it's a competent comedy powered by Rachel McAdams' lead and Harrison Ford's scene-stealing supporting role.
Becky Fuller (McAdams) is a work-a-holic producer in the news television industry. After being fired instead of promoted she is offered a position at 'Daybreak', a failing show at a powerful network. Her job is to revitalize the morning show before it's cut from the air- also, she has almost no budget and little on-screen talent apart from veteran morning anchor Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton).
To begin she fires the current co-anchor and persuades Mike Pomeroy (Ford) to come to morning television by reanalyzing his contract and essentially telling him he has to. Pomeroy is a career journalist who has spent his life making broadcasts about economics, politics and crime. He is one of those people who looks down upon morning shows with disgust, and he is less than pleased to find himself reporting on animal shows and weather trends, especially when all this is happy news. However, Mike Pomeroy slowly turns around as Becky fiercely leads her new news team.
Harrison Ford is a great Mike Pomeroy, his macho attitude is channeled into a character who resembles a classic news anchor. He only takes the stories that are worth telling, and at one point he refuses to say the word “fluffy” on the air. His dismissive attitude leads to some good scenes between himself and Becky, as well as his comical relationship with Colleen. The movie stays away from the overplayed rom-com genre by only touching its foot into Becky’s romantic life, this movie is more about her career and the difficulties with it than it is about her personal life.
Morning Glory is better than most modern comedies in that it achieves something special, it makes us care about Becky’s story and what happens to her. This is mainly thanks to Rachel McAdams good job, she brings the neurotic quirkiness to life in a way that blends in with her charm and wit to create Becky. Even though it’s a very predictable movie, this one seems to avoid the usual bells and whistles of comedies, stripping the experience down to a more realistic approach on work and life. This isn’t to say the movie is deep or that it criticizes through its jokes- it’s just a good laugh, like a lovable sitcom.