Broadcast News (1987)

The critic calls the film a wonderfully funny yet trenchantly sober look at modern romance in a high-pressure TV news bureau, crediting James L. Brooks' brilliant screenplay for blending romance and workplace satire effectively. It singles out the strong performances, especially Holly Hunter's as the anxious producer and the insightful take on workaholics navigating professional and personal tensions.

The critic describes the film as a funny and provocative examination of the professional and emotional conflicts within a TV news team. They single out James L. Brooks's insightful writing and direction, along with the strong ensemble cast, for particular praise while noting a minor flaw in the epilogue.

It's Drop the Dead Donkey stateside in this sweet-and-sour satirical comedy. A romantic triangle develops between three self-serving Washington TV journalists, with Holly Hunter provoking the sorrow and pity of lives at the mercy of their careers.

Brooks is knowing about the wisecracks, back-stabbings and political shifts of the media game, underpinning a charming love-triangle with a serious statement about television news. The script has superb set pieces and crackles with furious one-liners, though it is a little soft-centred.

Brooks' original screenplay captures the backstage world of television news at peak panic with delicious specificity and powers of observation. It offers eavesdropper pleasures on real newsroom dynamics through sharp dialogue and character revelations.

The film is as knowledgeable about TV news as any movie but also examines how people use high-pressure jobs to avoid personal introspection. It centers on three characters in a romantic triangle who are ultimately more obsessed with work than love.

Television news-as-entertainment is the funny, occasionally satiric subtext of this bright comedy with smashing performances by William Hurt, Albert Brooks and Holly Hunter. Brooks goes inside a network's Washington bureau to show how things work in a gentle expose.