Valentine’s Day may be a rather silly holiday, but it is a wonderful excuse to celebrate love and romance in the movies. In that spirit, check back each day leading up to February 14th for a cinematic advent calendar of recommendations presented as mini-reviews.
Day 10: Morning Glory (2010)
Dir. Roger Michell
Rachel McAdams, Patrick Wilson, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton
Logline: When she is laid off from her local news job, a TV producer takes a new gig at a national morning show with flailing ratings. Hilarity, and romance, ensues.
Why you should watch: There is a rather strong case for Rachel McAdams as the Romance Movie MVP™ of the last two decades. With a run that includes The Notebook (2004), The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009), and About Time (2013), her bona fides are sterling. This also means that a hidden gem can easily remain tucked underneath a slew of more high-profile fare. For McAdams’ filmography, this has resulted in the absurdly entertaining Morning Glory slipped by into underrated territory, sandwiched between bigger hits Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Midnight in Paris (2011). It’s a proper shame because Morning Glory is a giddy romantic comedy of the throwback-to-90s-glory variety and a better movie by a mile than either of the high-profile releases squishing it out of the picture. By putting McAdams in a morning show setting with a murderer’s row of hilarious supporting turns, director Roger Michell and screenwriter Aline Brosh McKenna strike gold.
McKenna’s script is snappy and succinct, setting up Becky’s (McAdams) transition from big fish in a little pond to minnow in a huge damn sea. Of course, the pluckiness that defines many of McAdams’ comedic turns means we immediately root for her, which is all the more entertaining when she is faced with the task of wrangling enemy co-hosts played by the dream duo of Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton. Keaton and McAdams in scenes together play like a greatest hits of rom-com history with these two genre titans squaring off. Throw in Ford with arguably his best ever comedic role, leaning into his real-life curmudgeonly charm, and the situational comedy hums. Plus, a pre-horror turn Patrick Wilson as Becky’s romantic interest Adam proves that more movies should lean on Wilson as a romantic lead. He finds the sweet spot between sarcasm and heart that embodies the best of the type, and his chemistry with McAdams is divine.
With the recent rom-com revival, it’s as good a time as any to recognize that Hollywood still managed to deliver a few gems during the lean times, and Morning Glory is one of the best.
Where you can watch: Streaming on Prime and Paramount +. Rent on Apple, YouTube, and elsewhere.
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Devin McGrath-Conwell holds a B.A. in Film / English from Middlebury College and is currently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting from Emerson College. His obsessions include all things horror, David Lynch, the darkest of satires, and Billy Joel. Devin’s writing has also appeared in publications such as Filmhounds Magazine, Film Cred, Horror Homeroom, and Cinema Scholars.
