Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

These characters are to die for. Acting is truly amazing. The story is rather bland and becomes even somewhat tedious near the end, but the acting and the dialogues are so terrific that I forgive the somewhat bland ending.The story is about 2 competing news men and one woman: William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter. Besides the fact that these 2 guys are competing who is the best at covering news they are also competing for the same girl. Who gets the girl? Who gets the most prestigeous job? That's the suspense. The story may sound rather cheap, it is kind a, but that doesnt matter. This movie is all about budding romances and the insecurities that we all have when we first start longing for someone but dont dare speak out about it. Love hurts. Even when you are an middle aged adult. Love never becomes easier...The story ends on a melancolic note. That's unexpected, because the movie started so upbeat and joyous. But I must admit that the director did achieve to make these characters become so real. That is so refreshing. True to life characters, I long for that so much in every movie I see, because when I truly feel with all my heart that those characters could be friends or family of mine, I can get lost into the fantasy of the story. I need realism first, to lose myself in fantasy. Does that make sense? I truly felt after seeing "Broadcast News" that I had to part with some friends I had gotten fond of so quickly. Albert Brooks really has got an incredible talent of making characters likeable and full of human shortcomings that are so funny and endearing. Few other directors have such an effect on me. Still I must admit I will only give it 7 stars, because the second half part of the movie just lacks originality. It could have been better... Still a joy to watch.

When I think of James Brooks, I think more of television work he has done and been associated with like The Simpsons, Taxi, Mary Tyler Moore, and others. Here is a case where he wrote and directed this film. After finally seeing it recently, I was surprised and a bit disappointed all at once.The surprise is in how fast the technology in this movie has been out dated. Other than the TelePrompTers which I understand are still in use, I doubt there are any typewriters currently being used in TV Journalism. I believe Video Tape might be going if not gone by now as the digital age has taken over.Some of the characters here come off a quite real. The weakness is in the writing of Holly Hunter's character which sets back equal rights for women years. The drive of her character as a career woman is great, but the undecided state of her personal life is not consistent. Holly Hunter is a brunette stuck in the role of a blonde who is only half there. This is the fault of the writing and not the actress. After Brooks involvement in MTM, Rhoda, and other stuff prior to this, I am surprised how he wrote this not real woman character. When a woman is career driven, it is rare that her personal life would be this big a mess.That does not make this whole movie totally trash, it just makes Jane Craig seem a bit strange. William Hurt's character Tom Grunick is surreal as he makes sense as a news anchor but early on makes little sense when Jane first meets Tom and wants to get to know him real fast (the only time Jane makes sense in this one) but he flat out turns her down like he does not know she has invited him, while the viewer is wondering if he is crazy.Later on in the film Tom Grunick does a story on date rape. I guess in a way maybe if he had scored on the Jane encounter that would be consistent, but in this early scene it is Jane who is practically begging for a consensual encounter and Tom having none of it.Albert Brooks (Aaron Altman) is solid in the role of off camera journalist who finally gets a shot at his dream anchor job one night only to fall short. He is also the other guy on Jane's yo yo personality disorder, the friend who never gets past that status.Jack Nicholson's role is very limited in this, though very effective. "Why don't you cut a couple of million from your big salary, Bill, so we do not have to lay all these people off?" In this case Nicholson does not answer, because he handles the truth that he can't do that because he is not the head of the whole corporation and would have to answer to the top people even if he wanted too.One thing that is all too real in this is the lack of ethics shown by the reporters. The film exposes to an extent how the news is manipulated for one view, theirs. Predictably, the date rape interview has simplistic manipulation and exploitation in it which I predicted in my head just watching the film before it was revealed to a surprised Jane. Why a smart career driven woman did not see it when I did watching the interview for the first time in the movie, just another bit of a flaw in the writing of Jane's character? This film has a strong cast, with mixed results. It could have been better if script writer Brooks had really consulted more with on air Journalists of the era, but the writing behind Jane (Hunter's) character is just a major flaw. When I saw a hard driving Jane after 7 more years still stuck in the same personal rut she was in at the beginning of the movie, the way she is presented just makes me feel like she is not at all real.

The movie, Broadcast News was not as good as I expected. I enjoyed some parts of it but others were boring. Overall it me entertained and watching the whole time. The actors and actresses were pretty good and had many funny lines here and there. The plot of the movie was funny and informational. There is not much I would change about that. The film contained great journalistic value too. One concern I have was the ending. I definitely thought the ending should have been a lot better. It just left us all hanging. My whole class was very upset about it. We watched the whole film, which was 2 hours or so, for a not so good ending!!! I want to know what happens with the rest of their lives.

This movie started strongly, but every scenes made me more and more frustrated with the characters. It's confusing as to whether the focus of the movie is the love triangle or Jane's career. Aaron has a lot of really funny one-liners, but that's about the only redeeming quality he has. He claims to be "fighting" for his relationship with Jane, but she's growing apart from him and he only seems to be pushing her farther away. They appear to have been in a relationship for a while, but they seem more like just coworkers than a couple. Jane is falling in love with Tom, but Tom seems to be confused by what Jane wants. Jane is dismissive of him one moment, and in love with him the next. Jane's willingness to throw away her relationship with Aaron and commit to a new relationship only further confuses the plot. The whole time, the audience feels like Jane will have to choose between the two. It doesn't seem like a fair fight. Aaron seems aggressive, sarcastic, unappreciative, rude, and uncaring. Tom seems to sweep Jane off her feet and show her a life away from caring about every little detail. The end of the movie was the most disappointing part. At the end of the movie, she doesn't choose either man, both men move on, and she alludes to having a different boyfriend. The characters all remain unchanged. I enjoyed the twists and turns of the story as it unfolded, and I really appreciated the look into the world of broadcasting. The stressful, high-stakes nature of journalism was shown clearly. It was interesting to see examples of stories going from ideas to the final cut. Overall, as frustrating as the characters were, they were very real. This is a movie I actually might watch again.