Broadcast News
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Movie Reviews of Broadcast News
Movie Review: The truth, and nothing but the truth...
Summary: 5 Stars
Wildly witty and richly textured with raw human connection; James L. Brooks' comedic masterpiece `Broadcast News' is most definitely one of a kind.
Well, talk about spilling it all in the opening sentence. I don't even know how to follow that up.
The film centers around three working bodies. You have Tom Grunick, the pretty boy turned TV-Reporter who is embittered with himself for being too good. He has a knack for something that he doesn't quite understand and it causes him to feel less than deserving; but it's apparently a mock-humility, as if he's searching for manipulated sympathies. Then you have Aaron Altman, a very gifted and passionate reporter who lacks the presence and connection that Tom so effortlessly oozes. He is battling his own insecurities as he is surely battling himself, trying to put up a front and become something he's not sure he wants to be. Stuck in the middle of this testosterone ridden battle is a female producer, Jane Craig, who struggles with her feelings for these two men as she struggles with her feelings about herself and where she is headed; professionally and personally.
`Broadcast News' is not a film merely about television, or the media, or the workplace but is a genuinely sincere look at relationships of the most important kind; the ones we have with ourselves.
Each of these characters is not a whole person. They are fractures shells of who they are meant to be, still struggling to put all their pieces together and figure out just who they truly are. Tom is a mess, manipulating himself to believe that his gift is to manipulate the masses. He believes that selling the news is more important than believing in it. He has a talent for something he isn't quite sure he cares for, and thus his talent is wasted. Jane is barely holding herself together as she attempts to separate her personal life from her professional life; a task that has taken its toll on both aspects. She has scheduled times throughout the day to just cry, as if she spent the remaining twenty-three hours of her day forcing herself not to cry. Aaron, to me, is the most interesting character because he seems to be the most confused. His love for Jane feels almost forced, as if he feels that that is how he is supposed to feel, when I get the feeling that he was more in love with Tom than Jane, and his hatred for the man and everything he stood for was more a way for him to reject the feelings he convinced himself were not really there. His personal life as well as his professional life is a mess and it's because he cannot for one second be honest with himself.
But that's just my take.
The three stars are all wonderful here (thus all garnering Oscar nominations), each one playing off the other with brilliant chemistry and naturalism. William Hurt is perfectly wounded in his demeanor, as if he is trying to constantly defend his stance even when he doesn't have to; and Brooks (who is lead here, not supporting) is marvelously conflicted, etching the truth within Aaron's lies so wonderfully. Holly Hunter, in my opinion, is a comic (and dramatic) gem here. She really understands Jane, who is the moral centerpiece for the film. She grasps her own demons and conflictions and dilemmas beautifully and creates one of her finest onscreen characters.
The supporting cast, including the brilliant Joan Cusack (she really should be in every movie) and the always amazing Jack Nicholson, is also top notch, but this show belongs to the three leads.
I definitely recommend this film, highly. It's no wonder that all three leads received nominations at the Oscars, or that the film was up for four other awards that night, including Original Screenplay and Best Picture. It is a shame that the film lost all seven though, especially since Holly Hunter's performance alone was the best in any category that year; bar none.
Movie Review: Real news verses entertainment...
Summary: 5 Stars
The media as purveyors of sensational 'news' in the spirit of good 'salesmanship' and entertainment as opposed to actually reporting unbiased, important events and issues to inform the public, that is journalism, as it was meant to be, is represented in this charming and witty film from the genius of James L. Brooks. (Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets) To be fair, some television news organizations attempt to report important events as they happen, avoiding sensationalism, the need to entertain, and maintain a modicum of integrity. But television news is more and more about the dazzling visual, the shocking three- minute sound bite between the all-important advertisements. This film cleverly addresses the question on what is 'real' news and what 'sells'. In the past we sort of had a clue or at least a choice as to what news source was credible, i.e., tabloid-ism and/or serious journalism. It all seems now to be blurred - sensationalism, gossip, opinion, selling and the so-called 'facts' of an event or issue has now appeared to all have melded together in the pursuit of market share and the almighty dollar. The character, Tom, (William Hurt) is a striving newsreader, and after reading sports at a local station, manages to land a job at one of the big networks. He is a little slow, can't write, and wouldn't know a real story if it dropped on his head, but he's good looking, personable, can at least read, and above all, has the innate ability to sell the birds off the trees. Here is the new force in television journalism - news anchor as television star. Then there is Aaron, (Albert Brooks) the reporter's reporter - brilliant, serious, idealistic and wholly uncharismatic in the popular sense. Although a writer with Pulitzer Prize ability, he attempts to read the news one Sunday night and almost drowns in his own flop sweat. Aaron is not a newsreader but a true writer and investigative journalist, a man who believes in the integrity of his profession. Then, of course, there's Jane, (Holly Hunter) a highly-strung, also brilliant, obsessive news producer, who shares this same idealistic integrity about journalism as her co-worker and best friend, Aaron. The film is about these three diverse and colourful individuals, who are drawn together for the same reasons, ambition and the news, but whose ideas about the news, their values concerning integrity, at least for one, are so different. This film is also about love, relationships and how the passionate desires of the heart do not necessarily match the logic of the head.
At the time of it release, this film was acclaimed as the best romantic comedy to come out in years. It continues to be enormously entertaining and the issues it raises are relevant today. The film truly depicts the world of television news, how its standards have slowly dropped from reporting the events and issues to entertaining us with gossip, sensationalism and that all-important dazzling visual - news is now about entertainment and selling. This is a film that should be pulled from the shelf occasionally and watched to remind us about integrity, maintaining a high standard in our values, and what great movie making is all about. Five Stars.
Movie Review: Broadcast News - In Review
Summary: 5 Stars
Amidst the hustle and bustle of a demanding newsroom a love triangle builds right in your living from this witty, romantic, comedy Broadcast News. Holly Hunter who plays a network news producer falls between pretty-boy anchorman William Hurt and Albert Brooks, who provides contrast as the gifted reporter. Director James L. Brooks brings this romantic comedy to life through the busy Washington D.C. pressroom.With a glimpse into each of the characters' childhood the film brings us thirty years later to a Washington News Network that brings together are three amusing characters. Jane (Holly Hunter), swiftly finds herself attracted to the new anchorman, Tom (William Hurt) hired for his good looks and camera poise. Long time friend of Jane, Aaron (Albert Brooks) reveals his true feelings in the midst of Jane and Tom's relationship to create a tangled triangle. Cutbacks and an unrevealed lie send the trio in their separate ways to be reunited seven years later.
Holly Hunter is Jane Craig, a lovable, high-strung, control-freak news producer, who falls for a dim-witted, handsome and on the rise anchor William Hurt, who plays Tom Grenick. No role was more fitting then Aaron Altman performed by Albert Brooks, Brooks's made a hard working and witty veteran reporter complete with his brilliant performance. Pulling the film together with supporting roles was Lois Chiles, Joan Cusack, and Robert Provosky, not to mention a trivial role as senior anchorman played by Jack Nicholson.
The setting is the high-stakes world of network television news, and although the technology has changed since the mid 1980's when this was made, the politics and the cutthroat environment are still exactly the same. The soundtrack is mainly dialogue driven lacking any memorable hits. Mainly featuring scene based tunes to keep the film flowing allowing the focus to stay with the actors' performances.
Jane's dilemma is more in depth then looks versus love; it is an inner struggle tearing her apart. In one hand she has the handsome anchorman that is everything she cannot stand in media and the other is her long-time honest friend who still believes in integrity. Torn between the choice of integrity and selling the news she takes the new position and starts over.
The performance from the three actors was outstanding and the accurate portrayal of the network production puts you on set. This spunky, romantic, comedy is well deserving of its Seven Oscar nominations. This delightful James L. Brooks film will leave you wondering if it is not too late to consider a new occupation.
Movie Review: "Wouldn't it be a great world ...
Summary: 5 Stars
". . . if desperation and insecurity made us attractive? If needy were a turn on?" Though Albert Brooks delivers this line, *Broadcast News* is not directed by him; it's directed by JAMES Brooks (who also wrote and produced -- truly a product of one creative mind, here). It's a measure of how well James Brooks knows his 3 principal characters that the actors who play them speak as if they wrote their own dialogue. *Broadcast News* is a classic primarily because these characters are so completely realized, so lived-in, as it were. We end up knowing these characters nearly as well as they seem to know themselves ("I'll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time"). William Hurt is the not-terribly bright aspiring anchorman; Holly Hunter is the type-A news producer; and Albert Brooks is the reporter after "hard news" (meaning, REAL news). One reviewer here complained that he didn't like Albert Brooks as much as he was "supposed to" and that Hurt's character wasn't villainous enough. But that's the point. While we side with Brooks' work ethics throughout, we are often disappointed in him, particularly when out of lovesick frustration he descends to cheap pettiness by rubbing his intellectual superiority in Hurt's nose and says hurtful things to Hunter's character. And while we disdain Hurt's corner-cutting career ambitions, we're also surprised at the man's humaneness, as when he calls his father in a touching scene, joyously proclaiming, "Dad, I think I can do this job!" The point being, of course, that these are REAL people, presented in such a way as nowadays seems impossible in mainstream Hollywood productions. As if this wasn't wonderful enough, the movie is interested in actual WORK: it's quite educational on how a network news program is edited, staged, and generally put together, even providing the inside skinny on how to straighten the shoulders of one's suit-jacket. And certainly the concern with ethics in journalism puts this romantic comedy on a far higher level than is usual with the genre. I'm talking a level on par with some of the great novelists of the 19th century, like Austen and Henry James and Trollope and Hardy. In other words, *Broadcast News* is nothing less than a formal comedy of manners . . . one of the best ever put on the screen. Oh, and by the way: the bittersweet ending is precise and true. Much like the rest of the movie.Movie Review: A Classic--Excels In Every Way
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this when it first came out in 1987, and remembered liking it. Watched it again last week, and liked it even more. Its achievement is that it is able to tell a compelling personal story (a love triangle of sorts) at the same time that it takes a snapshot of a pivotal moment in time in an industry critical to American democracy. It's very different from Network, which mixes black humor and over-the-top satire with a couple of personal stories and a cheesy, poorly realized romance, but the two taken together can tell you a lot about where American news media went wrong. I think James L. Brooks' script and direction are topnotch, and the three principals, Hunter, (Albert) Brooks, and Hurt are all good. Hunter is brilliant, and Brooks is as real and convincing as he has ever been in anything!
So many movies tack on the romance as an artificial way of generating audience interest. But this movie makes the romance part of the overall commentary, and the love triangle's eventual resolution is completely intertwined with the film's take on journalistic ethics--such an effective way of delivering a social statement in a personal way that is convincing and integral to the larger story.
Pretty much everyone got nominated for this--Albert Brooks, Hunter, Hurt, and James Brooks. And they got nothing, unfortunately, losing out to The Last Emperor, Moonstruck, and Wall Street, for goodness' sake. Still, a fine movie, well-crafted, intensely acted, and poignant. And still pretty tight and crisp twenty years later. Not a lot of excess, even at just over two hours. Well worth a view.