#34: Broadcast News
Few films or TV shows achieve a reasonable simulacrum of a real workplace, populated with people who would actually work there and whose conversations are mainly about their jobs and not their private entanglements. (Grey's Anatomy excepted, of course). Rarer still is a movie that also manages to layer in complicated, adult relationships on top in way that seems co-existent with, not predominant over, the characters' work lives, plays with BIG IDEAS, but does not forget to keep us entertained. In other words, all the things Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom fails at, this film excels in.
Written and directed by James L. Brooks - or James Hell Brooks if you, like me, were introduced to the man by his producer credit on The Simpsons - Broadcast News is a prophetic (for 1987) look at the rapidly diminishing world of, um, broadcast news. The plot (such as it is) centers around a "love" triangle between Holly Hunter's producer, Jane Craig, Albert Brooks as her best friend/favorite reporter, Aaron Altman, and William Hurt as a doltish but driven anchorman, Tom Grunick. But that's really overstating it, because these people are pretty much incapable of loving anything but their jobs - which in Hunter and Brooks' case is that ephemeral thing called telling the truth and in Hurt's case is selling himself.
The real clash is between news for news' sake and news for fame. None of them is looking for love so much as the next big lede. Or the chance to anchor the weekend news - minus the flopsweat.
Speaking of which, Albert Brooks* is great as always - he's that guy who says what you wish
you would say but suffers all the consequences you know would befall you if you did. He has an absolute heartbreaker of a scene here and just nails it. William Hurt is perfectly cast as a guy who you should just hate but he gives his character enough humility and enthusiasm to win you over - no matter how stubbornly. It helps explain why Hunter falls for him, even though he is basically a walking embodiment of everything she can't stand. Hunter is really fantastic in this movie. She's stubborn and ideological - obsessive (and she takes issue with that word) to the point of specifically directing a cabbie's every turn and speed - but she has some deep and unexplained vulnerability that boils to the surface in her private moments. Not to mention an effervescence she allows herself to exude when the time is right. She really owns this film, giving it her heart and soul.
It's a rich film that goes down light. Dynamic clashes of ideas and personality set off against dashes of sweet and bemused longing. It's a rewarding viewing experience and we highly, highly recommend it for those who haven't seen it.
Also, today, I turned on CNN and saw a reporter walking through a CGI graphic of the papal conclave. So, I think Brooks might have been on to something about the sorry state of the Third Estate. "A lot of alliterations from anxious anchors placed in powerful posts!"
BUT, we haven't watched this in a long time. It's an excellent, if not great, film. But not one we foresee popping in at 9:37 PM on a Wednesday night when the kids are asleep.
(RELUCTANT) FINAL VERDICT: PITCH
NEXT UP: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
*It's not quite a MICHAEL F'IN KEATON level of adoration yet, but I'm becoming a bigger and bigger Albert Brooks fan.
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