Plot
Writer/director/producer James L. Brooks scores on all counts with this clear-eyed look at the television news business and the dysfunctional types who work in it. Brooks' intelligent script introduces us to Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), an ambitious producer at the network news division's Washington D.C. branch, who is calm under fire yet has a good cry at her desk every morning over her empty personal life. Jane works well with Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), an excellent reporter who lacks the visual charisma to make him a star. Into their lives comes Tom Grunick (William Hurt), a regional newscaster who admits he can't write news and doesn't understand many of the events he's covering, but has the presence and physical appeal that the increasingly entertainment-oriented network wants for its news programs. Jane is also physically attracted to him, which drives her crazy, because Grunick stands for everything she's fighting against in the news business, while Altman is devastated by her attraction because he secretly yearns for Jane. As Grunick becomes a rising star at the network, and layoffs of the old guard loom, the three leads deal with their feelings for each other, their careers, and their values. Hunter, Hurt, and Brooks are all superb, as is the excellent supporting cast (including an unbilled turn by Jack Nicholson as the network's smarmy national anchor). Brooks' script is funny, poignant, gritty, and brutally honest in its examinations of the television industry and the ways in which professionals interact on and off the job. ~ Don Kaye, RoviReview
A film as much about the nature of relationships as the world of television journalism, Broadcast News was one of the most timely films of the 1980s. Released during a decade notorious for its emphasis on making money, it provided a gently satiric commentary on people whose lives are driven by their jobs. That said, Broadcast News is far from being a cautionary tale: instead, it is a funny, touching portrait of three people in the midst of an often turbulent love affair with their work and, less occasionally, with each other. As the film's leads, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks give some of the most satisfying performances of their careers. Hunter brings poignancy to her tightly-wound, deeply conflicted, and often hilarious career woman, while Brooks is deeply likeable as a brilliant but lovelorn journalist. Hurt, meanwhile, oozes the potent but befuddled charm of a perpetual big man on campus; rather than make Gunric into a dim bulb caricature, he manages to give him an unburdened complexity. And in his brief, unbilled cameo as the network's unctuous national anchor, Jack Nicholson displays the sort of sharklike charm of which only he is capable. As a director, James L. Brooks is at his best here, injecting his film with warmth and insight. His take on relationships is a novel one--unlike many filmmakers, he is brave enough to show his audience that for some people, love is less of a priority in life than one of its unavoidable byproducts. True passion, he says with frank confidence, is as much the province of the newsroom as the bedroom. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, RoviCast
- William Hurt - Tom Grunick
- Albert Brooks - Aaron Altman
- Holly Hunter - Jane Craig
- Robert Prosky - Ernie Merriman
- Lois Chiles - Jennifer Mack
- Joan Cusack - Blair Litton
- Jack Nicholson - Bill Rorich
Credit
Kristi Zea - Art Director, Kristi Zea - Associate Producer, Ellen Chenoweth - Casting, Penney Finkelman Cox - Co-producer, Molly Maginnis - Costume Designer, Yudi Bennett - First Assistant Director, James L. Brooks - Director, Barbara Marks - Editor, Richard Marks - Editor, David Rawlins - Editor, Polly Platt - Executive Producer, Bill Conti - Composer (Music Score), Michael Gore - Composer (Music Score), David Lester - Production Designer, Charles Rosen - Production Designer, Michael Ballhaus - Cinematographer, James L. Brooks - Producer, Jane Bogart - Set Designer, Thomas D. Causey - Sound/Sound Designer, Jery Hewitt - Stunts, James L. Brooks - Screenwriter| Broadcast Bombshells (1995 Film), Broad Road (1923 Film) | |
| Broadminded (1931 Film), Broadway (1929 Film) |
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