There’s a lot about MORNING GLORY that makes me want to just wail away on it. But in a rare twist, there is also an awful lot to dig. However, the fact that the details I dig are never really seen to fruition just makes me want to wail away all the more. It’s a paradox I’ve been struggling with since the weekend.

‘Case you don’t know, MORNING GLORY is about a young television producer named Becky (Rachel McAdams) who basically pleads her way into a job producing a network morning show that’s getting clobbered in the ratings. Her first move is to fire the male co-host and replace him with celebrated journalist Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford). He doesn’t take the job so much as he’s blackmailed into it, and his disdain for the job and his co-host Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton) is wildly evident.

Here’s my first point of contention – this framing alone, and the behind-the-scenes look at morning TV is a great start, but it feels wasted. Colleen feels like an afterthought, which is particularly odd given that she is the constant from the morning show being a joke to its run up the ratings. MORNING GLORY gives the show production less attention than an average episode of “Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip”.

With that potential seed already wasted, I was left perplexed by McAdams. She attacks the interview, and by extension the job, like an over-caffinated labradoodle. It’s an odd take on the performance, and had me continually reaching for the remote to turn her down. Where McAdams’ part in the story gets equally odd is with her crush on co-worker Adam Bennett (Patrick Wilson). After the meet-cute, she seems flustered and completely stunned that he’d ever be interested in someone like her. The movie seems to overlook the fact that we can see that Becky looks like Rachel McAdams.

Oddest of all is the fact that around seventy minutes in, the film abandons all narrative structure and turns into one screamingly long montage. The ups and downs of creating the show are all but abandoned, and in its stead is a series of spastic moments with very little connective tissue. The film, which is a comfortbaly short length has suddenly gotten itself in a hurry thinking that the audience’s attention span must be waning.

However, what makes this truly tragic is the fact that it wastes some flashes of truly wonderful filmmaking. Once or twice during these vignettes, the charm and determination of this story comes through. Likewise, when the film wants to, it allows us to see Becky and Adam relating like sophisticated grown ups. And I;d be remiss if I didn’t point out that the film includes one of the greatest final shots I’ve ever seen.

But what the film wastes the most is a glorious performance by Harrison Ford. The man commands every scene he is in, and makes everybody around him that much better by extension. He takes on the role of crusty elitist with gusto, and has spectacular chemistry with both McAdams and Keaton. He’s a character who doesn;t give a shit anymore and is only in it for the money, and old Han Solo epitomizes that role gloriously.

Pity the movie can’t build on it.