You know what I've noticed, people only say "lighten up" when they're gonna stick their fist up your ass.

Morning Glory

(2010)

Not exactly Harrison Ford's comeback, but he's winningly and consistently grouchy as a one-time prize-winning news reporter reduced to co-anchoring Rachel McAdams' producer's morning TV show.

The film's probably aiming for some kind of Broadcast News-level combination of humour and heartstrings, but McAdams' romance with Patrick Wilson never really engages and the hardships of making the endangered show a hit aren't especially well mapped-out.

McAdams does have chemistry with Ford, though (and luckily there's never a whiff of an icky love angle between them) and there's decent support from an under-used Diane Keaton (who gets the best moments sparring verbally with Ford, but is only ever seen on the TV show set - it's likely the only occasional you'll ever see her dancing with Fiddy Cent for which she deserves either castigation or everlasting sympathy) and the always great Jeff Goldblum as a network executive.

Working against enjoyment is a really rotten soundtrack, oozing the likes of Joss Stone and Natasha Bedingfield used to "amp up" would-be rousing montage sequences.

***

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How would Horatio Alger have handled this situation?

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No matter how innocent you are, or how hard you try, they’ll find you guilty.

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What do they do, sing madrigals?

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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