Broadcast News (1987)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Tom Grunick	William Hurt	½
Aaron Altman	Albert Brooks	½
Jane Craig	Holly Hunter	½
Ernie Merriman	Robert Prosky
Jennifer Mack	Louis Chiles
Blair Litton	Joan Cusack
Bill Rorich	Jack Nicholson

Review

One might label James L. Brooks' follow-up to his hugely successful debut Terms of Endearment as a serious and cerebral romantic comedy, and although this might describe Broadcast News, it wouldn't quite do it justice. Again Brooks creates a film so rich, insightful and nuanced that he leaves the viewer pondering just about every scene. Broadcast News is arguably the most intricate look at the medium of television ever to hit the big screen, and we get so close and intimate to the characters that we're able to live and sense their lives. We're left watching an everyday work situation without having a director or a screenwriter trying to be flashy, which is quite a relief.

The clever script plants theses, discusses them, teases with solutions, but ultimately leaves every conclusion to the viewer. It's delicately playful. And the love triangle, which ultimately becomes the essence of the film, has most any level of relationship basis merged into it. The vivid characters are not your everyday neighbours, they are arguably far more eccentric than that, but they still possess every ordinary human weakness you've come across. Watching Broadcast News one should be careful not to misinterpret or underestimate the three principal characters. The William Hurt character isn't quite the intellectual or the idealist the two others are looking for, but he's still more intelligent and thoughtful than most. That's what makes Brooks' statement so powerful – most of us are ultimately selfish, even if we're quite nice and helpful. Exactly the same can be seen through the wonderful Albert Brooks character. A man of immense idealistic conviction, who still –while facing defeat – becomes a fairly primitive and selfish human being. Albert Brooks' work here is among the finest of the decade. His acting is courageous and intimate. And by his side, Hurt and Holly Hunter provide exquisite and spirited performances. They give James L. Brooks the basis for his playful, but ultimately sombre look into idealistic journalism vs. commercialism and mating ritual vs. sophisticated life. And ultimately, Broadcast News is quite fascinated with and has a lot to say about both these battles.