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Broadcast News (1987)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 8.1/10
Reviews Counted: 41
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

100

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 0

No consensus yet.

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Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 9,107

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Movie Info

Writer/director/producer James L. Brooks scores on all counts with this clear-eyed look at the television news business and the dysfunctional types who work in it. Brooks' intelligent script introduces us to Jane Craig (Holly Hunter), an ambitious producer at the network news division's Washington D.C. branch, who is calm under fire yet has a good cry at her desk every morning over her empty personal life. Jane works well with Aaron Altman (Albert Brooks), an excellent reporter who lacks the

R, 2 hr. 12 min.

Drama, Comedy

Directed By: James L. Brooks

In Theaters: Dec 16, 1987 Wide

On DVD: Oct 5, 1999

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Broadcast News Trailer & Photos

Cast

William Hurt
Tom Grunick
Albert Brooks
Aaron Altman
Holly Hunter
Jane Craig
Robert Prosky
Ernie Merriman
Lois Chiles
Jennifer Mack
Joan Cusack
Blair Litton
Jack Nicholson
Bill Rorich
Peter Hackes
Paul Moore
Christian Clemenson
Bobby
Robert Katims
Martin Klein
Ed Wheeler
George Wein
Nat Benchley
Commander
Jonathan Benya
Clifford Altman
Joshua Billings
Chyron Operator
Amy Brooks
Elli Merriman
Leo Burmeister
Jane's Dad
John Cusack
Angry Messenger
Frank Doubleday
Mercenary
Marita Geraghty
Date-Rape Woman
Gennie James
Young Jane
Dwayne Markee
Young Aaron
Stephen Mendillo
Gerald Grunick
Stuart Pankin
Kimber Shoop
Young Tom
Martha Smith
Steve Smith
Aaron's Cameraman
Robert Walsh
NATO Spokesman
Jane Welch
Anne Merriman
Marc Shaiman
News Theme Writer
Raoul Rizik
Assistant Director
John Badila
Guest at Ball
Luis Valderrama
Guerilla Leader
Ellen Chenoweth
Maura Moynihan
Makeup Woman
Richard Thomsen
Gen. McGuire
David Long
Donny

Critic Reviews for Broadcast News

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (43) | Rotten (1) | DVD (15)

All the performers are tops.

February 2, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine

| Comment

Richard Corliss

TIME Magazine

Top Critic

Enormously entertaining.

April 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety Staff

Variety

Top Critic

One of the best entertainments of 1987.

April 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

The movie is a sarcastic and carefully detailed picture of a world Mr. Brooks finds fascinating and also a little scary.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

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Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

Broadcast News has a lot of interesting things to say about television. But the thing it does best is look into a certain kind of personality and a certain kind of relationship.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times

| Comment

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Top Critic

The film is so ingratiatingly high-spirited, and the performances so full of sass and vigor, that in the long run it doesn't really matter much.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

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Hal Hinson

Washington Post

Top Critic

(The) endlessly quotable writing... keeps the film fresh as Tom, Aaron and Jane carom off each other at ever-more oblique angles.

February 26, 2011 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

Christopher Long

Movie Metropolis

The human element is just as prescient as it was then, while the characters' romantic/professional entanglements now have the added poignancy of the past tense.

February 6, 2011 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk

| Comment

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Everything you could want to know about creating an ambitious, well-crafted romantic comedy in a mass-media whirlwind setting is supplied in this two-disc package.

January 31, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Bill Weber

Slant Magazine

By looking at the small-screen picture...[Brooks] provocatively suggests that America's socio-political problems are pretty much the same as the personal problems of its citizens. [Blu-ray]

January 17, 2011 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews

| Comment

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

People often behave foolishly in matters of love and just about everything else. That can lead to heartache and tragedy, but that same foolishness can also be very funny to watch, as it is here.

February 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope

| Comment

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

The outstanding set pieces give the viewer an idea of the job pressures, its perks, pitfalls and how the news is in the long run compromised.

April 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

In a film tracing the endless battles between style and substance, Brooks delivers both in abundance.

April 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine

| Comment

Empire Magazine

Hunter and Brooks are hugely appealing as news professionals trying to stay afloat in the corporate cauldron.

April 1, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

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Film4

Worthy adult entertainment.

April 1, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

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TV Guide's Movie Guide

Though lacking visual style, this is a poignantly written film about the changing professional mores of TV news in the electronic age, well-acted by the three leads, Holly Hunter, William Hurt, and Albert Brooks.

February 11, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Witty TV newsroom tale for mature comedy fans.

October 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Teresa Talerico

Common Sense Media

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Broadcast News

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Network in the 80's without the RAGE!

October 1, 2011

Lenny Muggsy

Super Reviewer

A solid but imperfect love triangle set amidst the ever-declining journalistic standard of info-tainment, Broadcast News rides an excellent performance by Holly Hunter the whole way through. Her charcter, Jane, is a spunky and viciously talented editor in the newsroom, for whom nothing but the best will do - but when

February 10, 2008

Daniel Perry

Super Reviewer

Broadcast News Quotes

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1. Young Tom: What can you do with your life if all you can do is look good?
– Submitted by Vincent M (5 months ago)
1. Aaron Altman: I know you care about him. I've never seen you like this about anyone, so please don't take it wrong when I tell you that I believe that Tom, while a very nice guy, is the Devil.
– Submitted by Lea L (8 months ago)
1. Jane Craig: I-I can't help you. Sorry, I'm not here to teach remedial reporting.
– Submitted by Lea L (8 months ago)
1. Jane Craig: Just what do you want from me anyway, permission to be a fake? Stop whining.
– Submitted by Lea L (8 months ago)
1. Aaron Altman: I'll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time.
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)

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