The Movie You’ve Never Heard Of (But Totally Should Have)

In the sea of forgotten, niche rom coms that came out between 1999 and 2015, one stands out, Morning Glory. However, after making a $20 million profit from box office sales, the movie essentially fell off the face of the earth. 

Plucky, twenty-something Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams) is an optimistic and overly enthusiastic news producer. She is tasked with fixing the ratings of a failing morning show called DayBreak. In doing so, she also has to fix the attitude of Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), a stuck-up and overly-serious journalist. All of this is interwoven with a B-plot of Becky falling for Adam Bennett (Patrick Wilson), the down-to-earth producer of the station’s evening show. 

Becky decides that the best way to raise DayBreak’s ratings is through novelty and shock. One of my favorite scenes in the movie is a montage of Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton), the show’s host, who has been with DayBreak for years, and Ernie Appleby (Matt Malloy), the quirky weatherman, as they cover stories that involve absurd challenges in the name of securing viewers and ultimately, the ratings they need for the show to survive.

Morning Glory didn’t deserve to become a DVD shoved into the 99¢ bin in a Walmart, and yet that’s exactly what happened. I’m not sure why nobody talks about this movie. All I know is that everyone should, at least if they’re looking for a flick that is light and fluffy. The film is very engaging. I didn’t find myself bored or zoning out during it, and trust me; my attention span is almost nonexistent. 

One common critique I’ve heard for the movie is that the plot is too generic and formulaic. I can ultimately see the logic behind this complaint, but I feel that Morning Glory does it so well that I was happily entertained, even if it has been done a thousand times.

The movie has an incredible main cast: McAdams (who starred in The Notebook and Mean Girls), Ford (who played Hans Solo in the Star Wars franchise), Wilson (The Conjuring series), Keaton (The Godfather), and lastly, Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park). Not only is it an all-star cast, but they have great chemistry with each other. Unlike in other movies where famous actors are cast just to sell tickets and not for how well they play their roles, the actors in Morning Glory add to the experience perfectly.

Morning Glory is a great movie overall if you’re looking to be amused and unwind. Since it is PG-13 and a light watch, I recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and chill hour and forty-five minutes. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. Give it a shot.