BROADCAST NEWS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1987 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: A winning romantic comedy also takes some reasonably good shots at the television network news business. James L. Brooks (TERMS OF ENDEARMENT) has made an adult film with solid characters. Rating: +2.
In fairly short order Twentieth Century Fox has brought out two "what goes on behind the scenes" films each by a director of a film that won an Oscar for Best Picture. Each is a glossy, high-budget production and that is where the similarity ends. Oliver Stone's WALL STREET is unoriginal and predictable and has poorly developed characters. What WALL STREET has to say about the world of high finance you already know. You probably already know everything about network news you will learn from BROADCAST NEWS, but along with the social statement you will get three interesting characters in one of the best love-triangle films since PHILADELPHIA STORY. Nobody is reduced to being "the other man" or "the woman." Instead you have three well-defined characters who do not grow tiresome. BROADCAST NEWS is 131 minutes long, but characters like these could have carried a film twice as long.
Holly Hunter--every bit as energetic as she was in another great comedy, RAISING ARIZONA--plays Jane Craig, a high-tension news producer who usually works with reporter Aaron Altman (played by Albert Brooks): high IQ, low charisma. Along comes the network's new anchorman Tom Grunick: sincere, hard-working, and good-looking, but he doesn't always understand the news he's reading. Any bets who Jane ends up with? Don't bet. This is not a pat, predictable comedy of the type we get so many of these days. The characters are three-dimensional and have minds of their own. James L. Brooks wrote, produced, and directed the film, undoubtedly getting backing on the strength of his TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. I personally did not respond well to the characters in that film, but BROADCAST NEWS offers a much better choice. Two of the three leads are supposed to be highly intelligent and Brooks manages to write them so they really seem to be, as well as all three being just quirky enough to be real.
BROADCAST NEWS is a sign that the film industry is starting to recover from the post-STAR WARS decade and is starting to go back to making films as adult audience can appreciate. I would hope it would be nominated for Best Picture at least, though it would not be my choice to win. Rate it a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
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