The story, as so often in the genre, is structured around a romantic triangle. In the three corners, we have Tom Grunick (Hurt), a seemingly insecure but in fact horribly smug reporter who has rocketed up the ranks as a news journalist due to his looks and charisma and despite his total lack of writing or reporting ability; Jane Craig (Hunter), an obsessive news producer who is superb at her job, and fast-tracking to the top of the profession, but who has paid the price of success by sacrificing her personal life; and Aaron Altman (Brooks), a talented, clever journalist whose disinterest in his image, and inability to keep his mouth shut, have kept him from becoming as successful as he should have been. Aaron is Jane's best friend, and is, unsurprisingly, secretly in love with her. Along comes flashy Tom to first antagonise, but then seduce Jane, and the battle lines are drawn - should she choose nice, safe, rather dull Aaron, or attractive, dynamic and, frankly, rather dim Tom ? Meanwhile, the film examines the way that Tom rises to the leading role of news anchorman, suggesting that the news is becoming just another entertainment programme, in which image is much more important than substance.

Inevitably, the dice are loaded against Tom, not least because William Hurt gives such a heroically unpleasant performance, using his narcissism - so irritating in other films - as an essential part of the character. Tom isn't just a likeable simpleton. He's a consciously manipulative go-getter, eye always on the main chance, interested in no-one but himself. There's a great moment in the film when he gives Aaron a lesson in how to read the news; it transpires that Tom's success is entirely based on reading what someone else has written, sitting on his jacket and emphasising the good side of his face. He talks about how his job as a news reporter is to be a "salesman", and will break fundamental rules of objectivity simply to make himself look good, such as when he fakes his tears in a report on date-rape. He personifies everything that Jane Craig has set herself against - the supremacy of packaging over content - and when she falls for him despite herself, Hurt has a marvellously self-satisfied grin. If a satyr could be tall and blond, this what he might look like.

The film is therefore somewhat unbalanced in favour of Aaron, who gets all the best lines - "Wouldn't this be a great world if insecurity and desperation made us more attractive" - and is allowed to be totally sympathetic. Albert Brooks gives a very likeable performance, and steals the film with the scene where he finally gets a once-in-a-lifetime chance to present the news, but suffers a Blair-esque attack of nervous sweat. It's also made clear that Aaron is not only the better journalist, but also honest, decent, upright and a much better partner for Jane - he pines for her with an unrequited passion of such intensity that it makes Cyrano De Bergerac look mildly depressed in comparison. In other words, he is the surrogate for all those men in the audience who are sick and tired of the girl getting off with the good looking bastard.

Jane is in the middle of these two men, and Holly Hunter's performance is so good that the character, a rather artificial set of working-woman cliches, suddenly comes to life and seems not only plausible, but totally realistic. This woman seems electrically charged; her energy is phenomenal, and she never seems to stop moving, even when sitting still. The only people in the film she seems to connect to are Aaron, her assistant (played by the incomparable Joan Cusack), and Ernie, the station manager (Robert Prosky). The rest of the time, she's prickly, funny, cyncial and slightly distant. We know that she and Tom could never work out, since she never relaxes with him; during their first kiss, she stops to worry about how Aaron has got on with presenting the news. On the rare occasions that she stops for breath, she begins crying, as if she has to recharge her emotional defences before going back to the real world. Perhaps that's a sexist concept - and all of the 1987-88 cycle of "working women films" fall into a similar trap - but Hunter makes it seem totally natural - no-one else in the film seems to find it alarming. She looks stunning here; Aaron calls her "a little porcelain thing", and he's right, but what adds to her attraction is the core of steel beneath the fragile exterior and when she loses her temper, it's rather alarming, as if a Dresden Shepherdess has just turned around and bitten a sheep's head off. Although the plotting, which leads to her making a decision about her future prospects with Tom or Aaron, is more than a bit clunky, requiring us to accept that she is shocked to discover something about Tom's report on date-rape that any decent producer would have spotted on a first viewing, Hunter's self-righteous anger and sense of betrayal - both self-betrayal and Tom's treachery - is entirely convincing. Even a tacked-on "happy ending" coda can't quite soften this fascinating character.

Although the film works best as a romantic comedy, the background setting of the news room is very detailed and evoked with wit and a nice edge of parody. It seems chaotic, but it's an organised chaos based around a group of people who know exactly what they're doing and who trust each other to come up with the goods. Tom never seems part of this world of professionals, but the irony is that he doesn't have to be. The bosses want him because he looks good, and they don't want him contaminated with genuine talent. What Tom will become is emodied in the newscaster Bill Rorsch, played by Jack Nicholson in a deliciously funny cameo. Rorsch is a self-regarding flirt who turns up to cry crocodile tears when half the Washington bureau are sacked, never considering that his own multi-million dollar salary might be worth sacrificing in order to save a few jobs.

As a satire of the way news is turning into show business, the film is entertaining, but lacks the true killer instinct. There's nothing here to match Paddy Chayefsky's raging wit and insight in Network. Indeed, the shadow of that film hangs over this one, especially in the fight between Jane and Aaron which is well performed, but toothless compared to the stand-off between William Holden and Faye Dunaway in the earlier film. It should also be noted that the whole question of whether a woman can have a great career and a successful relationship is a non-issue, since millions of women in the real world do manage to have it both ways without becoming soulless automatons.

The film is made with the unobtrusive efficiency of the best TV sitcoms, which is unsurprising since James L. Brooks was involved with some of the classic American half hour comedies, including the legendary "Taxi". The editing by Richard Marks is particularly worthy of praise - watch the scene where Jane and Aaron have a row and note the expert cutting between the two. Bill Conti's score is attractively poignant and the design of the film has the authentic newsroom feel. If Brooks's film is not quite in the class of comedy greats such as His Girl Friday - and there are moments which are in that league, notably the reaction of a senior employee to the news that he is to get early retirement - then it's certainly an extremely good one. Particular praise is due to the brave ending - that is the real ending in the taxi and not the tacked-on coda which might as well have "fake" written all over it.

The Disc

In 1988, Broadcast News was nominated for several Oscars, but won none. The disc is a similar story - while lesser films get 2 disc special editions from Fox, this movie has to make do with a DVD release that is disappointing.

The first problem is the picture quality. Now, this isn't as bad as some other non-anamorphic Fox releases, and is at least in the original 1.85:1 ratio. But the contrast is not satisfactory, leading the film to have an ugly look, especially in the newsroom scenes. The colours are also over-saturated. Some artifacting is present, but not too distracting, and the film has a generally grainy appearance which is not all that great an advance on the VHS release.

The sound is acceptable, with the same 2.0 mix as the theatrical release. It's not a particularly dynamic stereo track, with occasional directional effects, but a generally monophonic feel. The music is heavily emphasised throughout, but doesn't swamp the rest of the soundtrack.

As for extras, we get the trailer and that's it. Not a bad trailer as these things go, but is that the best Fox could do for us ? All the principles are still around, the director is one of the more garrulous of Hollywood figures and there are no doubt lots of journalists who could give their views on what the film says about their profession. But we don't get any of that, which is a great shame. This is the sort of film which just begs to be given supplementary material - but then some excellent recent films get no better, Michael Mann's The Insider being a key example. Meanwhile, time and money are spent on special editions for Road Trip and Nutty Professor II.

Broadcast News has aged very well, and is one of the few examples of a comedy which is made by, and for, adults as opposed to overgrown adolescents. The disc, sadly, is a wasted opportunity, and it's hard to recommend it with any enthusiasm.

Mike Sutton