Broadcast News

Made:1987

Cast: Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks, William Hurt

Producer: James L. Brooks

Director: James L. Brooks

Cinematography: Michael Ballhaus

"What do you do when your real life exceeds your dreams?"

" Keep it to Yourself."

The film opens with the three central characters as children. Their personalities are mapped out from that age, and they have not really changed that much. One might think this would make the movie boring, but it actually points out that the film is going to be about true characters that are always themselves, which is more like real life than almost any other romantic comedy. Broadcast News is essentially about love in an office environment, but its insights on ethics and jobs will only resonate with people who meet it on its own terms.

The characters are Tom (William Hurt) the good looking anchorman, Aaron (Albert Brooks) the behind the scenes thinker, and Jane (Holly Hunter) the ambitions and obsessive woman of each mans affections. What has kept this underrated film fresh for over twenty years is that it has its own spin on the love triangle. It is about these three people in a love triangle, but its more about what they do as individuals than love and sex and blah blah blah. Each person in the movie is first and foremost a "person." Examples: Tom could easily have been the villain of the film but he is just a guy who has a different set of standards than the others. All he really wants is to make his father proud and be respected. Hunter, after an early conversation with Aaron, sits alone in her room and cries. Why? It is never said, only guessed at. Aaron, for all of his genius and knowledge, is always surprised when things don't go his way. He can't believe he is not a good anchorman, and can't believe when people think trivial journalism passes as "real news". There is not, in any other movie I have ever seen, three better developed characters than Jane, Tom, and Aaron; people I would actually like to meet someday or people I feel like I already know. This movies also contains Hunter, Hurt, and Brooks’ best cinematic performances.

The screenplay is also among the greatest ever written. James L. Brooks' first movie was Terms of Endearment, an extremely heartfelt and genuine movie full of some moments of greatness. Broadcast News is in every way a more fully developed movie, though the similarities are noticeable. Several moments of dialogue ring true: Hurt says regarding his newsroom skills, "Trust me, I stink!" and Hunter replies simply, "I trust you." Aaron says to Tom, "Oh, I forgot to say something about your speech." Tom replies, "I appreciate that." The cinematography is also gorgeous, my favorite moment is when Hurt gets his first stab at being an anchor and the camera spins around him in the newsroom while Aaron, through Hunter, feeds him information about his subject matter (something about a plane being shot down in the Middle East). This scene is visionary in the way it is directed and makes it all look so easy, but it actually is quite experimental filmmaking made very accessible. James L. Brooks always writes, directs, and produces his movies and is quite underrated as a Hollywood man who thinks outside of the box. His other strokes of genius include Terms of Endearment, As Good as it Gets, and Spanglish, which all include some form of insight on relationships. While he is not the most prolific of directors, it is only because he is equally as good at being a producer. He helped launch the careers of some of the greatest movie directors by producing films like Penny Marshal's Big, Cameron Crowe's Say Anything, and Wes Anderson's Bottle Rocket. Oh, and he did the same for a little TV show called The Simpsons from the very beginning of its run.

Above all, this is a romance that must be watched. There are moments of heartbreak involving different characters that will resonate differently with each person, and enough comedy to bring it to an enjoyable level somewhere between drama and comedy. The supporting cast including Jack Nicholson, Joan Cusak, Robert Prosky, and many others is amazing. The ending, when all three characters reunite, is one of the most perfect endings in any movie. These characters have a lot of insecurities...they always will. They never change, but they almost change. I think that is the point Broadcast News is trying to make. As much as we might want them to, people remain inherently the same. Albert Brooks delivers the line to Hunter, "I wish you were two people so that I could call up the one that is my best friend and tell her about the girl I like so much." There will always be people fighting the system, there will always be layoffs in corporate jobs, love is not perfect though it might seem that way when someone new comes into your life.

Also of Note: William Hurt and Jack Nicholson

Sometimes movie stars meet in a movie and you say "finally they are in a movie together!" But sometimes it is a changing of the guard, and Broadcast News gets that one just right. There is a scene where Nicholson, one of the best actors during the 70's (Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, One Flew over Cuckoo, The Passenger, Carnal Knowledge, etc.) meets Hurt in an office and says, "Tom, it's about time," and they shake hands. It is easy to see, with Hurt being one of the largest and best actors during his impressive run in the 1980's (Altered States, Body Heat, Big Chill, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Children of a Lesser God, etc.). A nod to a changing of the guard, or simply legendary actors meeting on screen.