Alana Fu As a big fan of James L Brooks and the many TV shows and movies he has created, I hated this movie. It is like he stuffed the "The Mary Tyler Moore show" into a simmering pot: the intimidating, annoying, OCD producer "Mary"(I really like Holly Hunter but hated her in this movie); "Murray" the sensitive, affectionate, humorous colleague who's trying to get promoted; an actually professional and charming tho still style over substance anchorman "Ted Baxter", and even a "Sue Ann" with a big closet. (More precisely, the last 3 seasons of MTM, when the show sort of turned into "The newsroom show" itself. ) A great deal of the plot resembles the TV show: "Murray" falls in love with "Mary", "Mary" gets a big promotion, and the dramatic ending too (not to spoil too much)! He added some this and that, spiced everything up, gave "Mary" a little more character, put in some more romance etc. After that, he puts on the "head" and "tail", and that's it.Let MTM aside and speaking the movie itself, the opening "childhood" scenes seems unnecessary and irrelevant, (Although the opening does do a great job at arising my interest in the movie, it's cute and sort of a joke on the people that work in news) none of the characters reflected any of the scenes later in the movie. The ending is corny and doesn't really add anything to the movie or whatever it is that it's trying to express. The rest, the plot, is complicated and confusing: At first I thought this was a movie about the "newsroom", the news staff family and the excitement of broadcasting news. Which makes sense because the name is "Broadcast News". And indicating from the opening scene, the three characters are identified by their professions, instead of "future girl in love" "future best friend of girl""future man the girl's in love with". Then, I thought this is a love story: he loves her, but she loves him, and he loves somebody else...then, I thought it's really about friendship: she's been in love with the wrong man the whole time, maybe she will go to the one who really loves her...I thought I'd found out in the end, but the ending doesn't explain or define anything.It's none and maybe all of them, and it doesn't do any of them well. There's no clear plot, just random events happening and emotions flying around. In all it's flavorful but hard to swallow.I wasn't inspired nor touched perhaps a little stimulated by the intensity of the news room, which I expected but not getting nearly enough. And comedy? Yes there were one-liners and a mild slapstick scene, but then I might as well just watch the MTM.

Python Hyena Broadcast News (1987): Dir: James L. Brooks / Cast: Holly Hunter, William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Joan Cusack, Jack Nicholson: Observant comedy that questions T.V. news as entertainment. It stars Holly Hunter as a news writer-producer of a Washington network who is always struggling to beat the deadlines and avoids outside interferences such as relationships. William Hurt is brought in as a sportscaster who lacks great education but because he looks good he is given the job. Hunter is not pleased with this but he is willing to learn. Albert Brooks plays one of the best reporters in the business who feels his spotlight fading because Hurt appears to be better in front of a camera than he is. He also loves Hunter but observes that Hurt is slowly gaining her favor. Beautifully written film about the news broadcasting world directed by James L. Brooks who previously made Terms of Endearment. All three leads are fantastic. Hunter the workaholic is caught in between professional and emotional feelings as limited Hurt progresses while skilled Brooks depreciates. It is a realistic view of the medium flawed only in that supporting roles could have been broader and more colorful. Jack Nicholson as a veteran anchor on the verge of retirement could have been broader. Terrific comedy about news and entertainment and the ability to tell the difference. Score: 9 ½ / 10

tqmcolom-16257 Broadcast News provides a great view into the world of TV and the life of a journalist. The only thing that I didn't like is that sometimes the love triangle got in the way of that. Jane is this strong, smart woman and she almost gives up everything she believes in for a guy that lies to her. I didn't really like either of her options though. Tom seemed a little sketchy and Aaron was just kind of a jerk. The ending was strange, and I wasn't really expecting it. I think it was a good ending but it was a bit abrupt. Like they laid out this plot and this love triangle, break it to smithereens, then don't follow up? We meet Tom's new girl but we don't end up meeting Jane's new guy or Aaron's wife. There were a lot of little things in the movie that I liked a lot. How Jane always had a way to tell the taxi driver to go, how it had it's funny moments, but also sadder moments. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised.

millerc-24308 Very entertaining movie with some great journalism value! It keeps viewers interested with love interests and drama, while accurately representing what it is like to be a broadcast journalist by showing how much work goes into it and how stressful it is, but also shows how much the people doing it love it. It also brings attention to whether or not broadcast news should be purely news or a source of entertainment. This is a debate that journalists everywhere struggle with because if your news isn't entertaining, people most likely won't read it. On the other hand, if it is purely entertainment it might not be news. It also shows how important it is to have credibility as a reporter and for all of the news to be accurate and not tampered with (when Tom fakes the tear and Jane catches him in the end).