Morning Glory review (The List, Issue 675)

A few years ago it looked like Harrison Ford had resigned from movie stardom, but putting Indiana Jones’s fedora back on in 2008 seems to have refocused the old curmudgeon. This summer he’s headlining insane sci-fi western Cowboys and Aliens, but first we have Morning Glory, in which, as TV news reporter and reputed ‘third worst person in the world’ Mike Pomeroy, Ford has more fun onscreen than we’ve seen from him in decades.

Roger 'Notting Hill' Michell’s lightweight comedy centres on a determined young TV producer (Rachel McAdams) tasked with salvaging the ratings of moribund breakfast news programme Daybreak. She recruits investigative reporter Pomeroy, despite his disdain for the show, after discovering he is contractually bound to the station. Co-host Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) is unimpressed, and it doesn’t take long for their mutual hatred to spill over onto live TV.

The script from The Devil Wears Prada screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna is as formulaic as they come, and a subplot featuring Patrick Wilson as McAdams’ love interest is completely dispensable, but Morning Glory is still fun. Ford and Keaton deliver their spiteful barbs with relish, but it’s the fiery chemistry between Ford and McAdams that is most effective, as these two talented comic performers get a rare opportunity to cut loose.

Morning Glory is on general release from Friday 21 Jan. This review first published in The List magazine.