Morning Glory

An eager young TV producer (Rachel McAdams) tries to save a network’s sinking morning-news show by enticing a revered, semi-retired anchorman (Harrison Ford) to join the show’s current host, a former beauty queen (Diane Keaton). This is where the standard synopsis would say “sparks fly,” but unfortunately, they don’t; the main problem is Aline Brosh McKenna’s blandly gimcrack script, sketching characters in broad, shallow strokes that add up to little. Ford speaks in a gruff mumble, head down, brows knitted, as if grimly determined to be a light comedian, while Keaton is wasted in a glorified cameo. The movie squeaks by on McAdams’ manic energy, abetted at intervals by infusions of mordant quirk from Jeff Goldblum (in another glorified cameo). Roger Michell’s workmanlike direction moves it all along.