It is the 1980’s.  Things are moving fast in America and faster still in the American newsrooms.  Jane Craig (Holly Hunter) is a mile-a-minute producer who is determined to make the news important, no matter how small the story.  A frequent collaborator and brilliant writer of hers at the network is Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), but their relationship is soon put to the test when Tom Grunick (William Hurt) is brought on as the new anchor for their program. 

Broadcast News is a fast-paced romantic comedy/drama, written and directed by James L. Brooks.  Released by Twentieth Century Fox in 1987, the film was very well received and to this day is still incredibly crowd-pleasing.  The cast all gives very likable performances and the script, while it flirts with some heavier concepts, is amicable enough to make us want to hang out with them for the 133-minute film. 

The biggest issue with Brooks’ script, though, is that it is double-dipping into the romantic comedy and drama.  For a while, the film balances the two genres well enough, but as the story continues to grow, it struggles to find its identity and weakens the overall experience.  Brooks has a great handle on showing the high paced and high-stress environment of dealing in breaking news and the film works best as a workplace drama, but without the focus of an overall story, as seen in All the President’s Men (1976) a decade earlier, or more recently the Oscar-winner Spotlight (2015), it often gets bogged down by an uninspired love triangle. 

It may not be entirely fair to compare those films to Broadcast News, most immediately because they deal in print instead of television.  We can instead choose to look at the all-too-real and all-too-tragic Christine (2016), a biopic of Sarasota, FL reporter, Christine Chubbuck, who took her own life on a live news broadcast in 1974.  While despite her morning breakdowns, Hunter’s Jane does not appear to be battling depression as Chubbuck was, both films highlight the importance of finding a healthy balance between life and career.  Both women are highly particular and seek full control over their work and they want to elevate what news and journalism mean to a community.  It is a noble endeavor and both films are at their best when we see these women at work crafting their stories for the evening broadcast. 

Unlike the three films mentioned, Broadcast News operates in a fictional reality that fluctuates between three main stories; the aforementioned love triangle, a brief study on the ethics of journalism, and the dilemma of a multi-million-dollar budget cut levied by the network.    It is in those last two plotlines where Broadcast News excels. The corporate tangle introduces us to the studio director, Paul Moore (Peter Hackes), and national anchor Bill Rorisch (Jack Nicholson) in supporting roles, and with them comes the concept of celebrity in the news industry.   

The film grapples with the changing news culture as it slowly begins to highlight human interest stories taking over from more traditional reporting.  While on location in Nicaragua, Jane corrects the cameraman as he tries to coach one of the soldiers into a performance.  This idea of capturing what is true is combatted by Tom’s philosophy that you can use the camera to help influence the emotions of the audience.  Unfortunately, Brooks’ script backs away from studying this debate in any significant matter and seems almost wholly unaware that it even sets the stage for it. 

While it is my opinion that Broadcast News greatly squanders its potential, the trio at the forefront of the narrative do make a very likable crew.  Hunter is able to show Jane’s passion and dedication, as well as her ferocity in the studio, but never makes her an unapproachable character.  She can be frustrating to watch at times, but the way those scenes are framed and because she is our entry point, the frustration we feel is the same that Jane is feeling about herself in those moments so instead of backing away from her, we empathize.  Albert Brooks brings great energy to the film with his goofier demeanor, but he never enters into the realm of total screwball.  While he is intended to be a foil to Tom, he also works as a foil for Jane in that he also takes the responsibility of his job very seriously but manages to have a life outside of the office. 

That brings us to Tom.  Hurt, in this film, probably has the hardest role because Tom is purposefully written as the anthesis to Jane but if we cannot find some redeemable aspects to his character, the film just would not work on any level.  He is in the way in the editing room, he bumbles around a little on camera, and overall, just seems to be in way over his head.  Hurt brings a warm nature, though, and really does shine in, what I can’t decide is either a very poorly or excellently written part.   

Broadcast News ends with a toothless and strange coda that wraps everything up nice and neat and is bookended by the equally strange prologue where we see young high school versions of the main trio.  It is easy to watch, and the production scenes are all well executed.  In fact, the filmmaking across the board is all very competent and there are no glaring flaws in that aspect.  It is just a shame that it comes so close to really having something to say but changes course to be a gentler comedy which undermines everything Jane spends the film fighting for.  As a romantic comedy, it still manages to hit all the beats necessary, which makes this abandonment of its beliefs all the more biting when taking in the film any deeper than surface level.