Our take
A marvelous combination of perfect casting and a sizzling script. William Hurt, Albert Brooks, and Holly Hunter are such natural talents they could make reading a dictionary watchable, but seeing them weave through James L Brooks punchy dialogue is a delight to behold. The three form the foundation of this drama that is as much about journalistic ambition as it is about love.
Hunter and Brooks are principled workaholics at a news station juggling a platonic friendship that seems destined for more but lacks a driving spark. Enter Hurt, a charming though self-admittedly stupid news anchor, who Hunter at once resents and yet can’t help falling for. What seems like a ready-built rom-com plot, however, churns into something else entirely. It’s a delicious film crackling with wit and character and is as funny as it is astute.
Streaming arrival
What it won
Oscars
7 noms
Berlin
2 wins
Golden Globes
5 noms
DGA
1 nom
WGA
1 nom
Nat. Board of Review
2 wins
NYFCC
5 wins · 1 nom
LAFCA
1 win · 1 nom
The story
A high-strung news producer finds herself in a love triangle between a talented but self-doubting reporter and a charming news anchor who embodies the growing trivialization of news that she is determined to fight against.
Elsewhere
"Jane Craig is a feminist heroine in a way that few female romantic-comedy protagonists since have been, even the ones we consider strong and independent."
— Jen Chaney
"Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter perform with such vitality, such comic neuroticism, that they at least blur the edges of their stereotypes."
— Sean French
The details
