| Overall Grade: |
C+ |
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| Story: |
C |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
C+ |
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| Visuals: |
C |
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Broadcast News: Great Performances, Flawed Plot
by Jeremy (movies profile)
May 5, 2007
I have mixed feelings about Broadcast News. It’s helmed by James L. Brooks who does a great job as executive producer for the always-great The Simpsons. Brooks, Hunter and Hurt all give fine performances but with the exception of Brooks' Aaron the characters are not interesting and are as in Hunter's case are downright annoying. I have always felt (and my previous reviews reflect this) that characters make or break a film. So having two out of the three main characters be self-centered, irritating characters is a bit of a turn off. You don't care if Hunter's Jane stays with the dim-witted Tom. You don't care if Tom fakes tears for the sake of a story no matter how supposedly immoral it is. Maybe this film doesn't stand the test of time. Maybe when it was originally released it was heralded as a satiric triumph. But I didn't get involved with the situations. Maybe being a child of the supposedly uncaring generation has given me a blasé attitude toward these kinds of movies. I have seen one too many of these types of movies to care, which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like this film. But I didn't, and the whole experience has left me unimpressed. |
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