Written by: James L. Brooks
Directed by: James L. Brooks
Starring: William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Holly Hunter, Joan Cusack, Jack Nicholson
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
Jane and Aarons's news station is shifting from substance to entertainment, evidenced by the hiring of sports correspondent Tom as the new anchor.
Verdict
It's a look at what happens behind the scenes at a news network. The three main characters are really well developed. The story is a love triangle trope, but the setting, characterization, and writing stand out. The shift in the news from meaningful stories to fluff is paralleled by Jane's interest in the pretty boy who isn't a good reporter, while she friend zones an intelligent man that doesn't have the charm. Also it's written and directed by James L. Brooks of The Simpsons fame. It feels like a parallel to Nightcrawler, if it were part romance.
Watch it.
Review
It opens with the '80s trope of seeing the main characters as children. As adults their behavior is much the same. Jane (Holly Hunter) is controlling, Aaron (Albert Brooks) is obnoxiously smart, and Tom (William Hurt) is vapid but charming. When the movie cuts to present day, Jane is decrying the failing of news. Instead of news, networks run fluff pieces. It's style over substance, but no one at the conference cares, walking out and cutting her presentation short. Thirty years later the same allegations hold true for the news. It's not news it's pushing an agenda. If the majority of viewers cared, it would change.
Jane's network hires Tom, and he represents everything she despises in a reporter. He doesn't have the experience of being an anchor and he's just not a good reporter. He's a pretty face for the screen. Hurt does a great job. You can tell he feels out of his depth, and it would be easy to make Tom a one note dumb character, but Tom knows his strengths and weaknesses. He feels like an impostor as the new anchor, but he is going to learn everything he can to make it. It's good writing.While Hurt does a great job, Holly Hunter easily steals the show. She's smart and confident, though a few too many scenes depict her crying. I guess it was a failed attempt at showing her feminine nature, maybe? It also took me a few scenes to get used to her Southern accent.
 |
| Broadcast News -When news was more than entertainment. |
Cusack's scene shows the chaos of making news while also showing Jane's controlling nature. She wants each segment just right. Her nature is further evidenced when she tells the cab driver which roads to take. It could be taken as a joke, but it doubles as character building.
Aaron is a competent reporter, but he's usually the smartest guy in the room and lets everyone know. He likes Jane, but is completely friend zoned. When he admits his feelings for Jane, we know that's going nowhere.
When Tom wants a few lessons in reporting from Aaron, Aaron is arrogant and pretentious. He flaunts his knowledge and rejects Tom. When Aaron gets a chance to anchor the news and goes to Tom for help, I wanted Tom to throw it back in his face, but Tom helps him without rubbing it in. Tom knows how to network. Tom isn't book smart, but he is charming and knows what it takes to succeed. It's why he's the anchor and Aaron isn't, despite Aaron's superior qualifications. It's also why Jane likes him. Aaron knows the right things, but isn't the success he hopes to be. It's easy to see why. In one of the first scenes, he's in high school getting beaten up and telling the bullies how much money he'll make when he grows up. Aaron never really changes.
Aaron is trying to monopolize Jane's time, but she's less interested now that she's in a relationship with Tom. Tom is upset with Jane leaving to see Aaron, and Aaron is upset that he can't hang out with Jane all night. Aaron is trying to masquerade the friendship as a relationship, and this movie is smart enough to not have a character out right say he's friend zoned. It's gives us enough credit to realize it on our own.
Massive layoffs at the network send them separate ways. Jane breaks up with Tom because he manufactured a news segment, inserting a scene of him crying during an interview. Of course it was Aaron, who tells her to look at the original tape. It seems like a minor thing, but it goes back to what Jane expects from the news.
The actors do a great job, in many scenes you know exactly what they're thinking by their expressions. Each character is distinct and well written. There are reasons to like them, and reasons not to. The depiction of the news process feels spot on.
No comments :
Post a Comment