The Litmus Test: Holly Hunter’s ‘Broadcast News’ Dress

Here at Decider, we’re obsessed with pop culture, and with those obsessions come strong opinions. We each have dealbreakers and litmus tests when it comes to movies and TV, and here’s one of them. 

Whenever anyone asks me to name my favorite movie, I don’t need to hesitate: it’s James L. Brooks‘ brilliant dramedy Broadcast News. Starring Albert Brooks, William Hurt, and Holly Hunter, the film was the writer-director’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning film, Terms of Endearment. Following a team of reporters, anchors, and producers working in a Washington, DC-based network news station, the film was not as big of a success as Brooks’ cancer-drama, yet it did earn a heap of Oscar nominations (including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor). It’s somewhat little-seen; when I tell people for the first time that it’s my favorite, they often say that they haven’t even heard of it. Which is a shame, really, because no one I have told to watch it has ever told me that they didn’t love it.

The film features perfect performances from its main cast, as well as endearing turns by a young Joan Cusack as well as a seasoned Jack Nicholson (who appears in an uncredited role as a network anchor). And it’s a testament to James L. Brooks’ skill as a writer that the film, while having a very ’80s look and feel to it, holds up today. It is a film about a love triangle set amid a hectic workplace, with two reporters — the handsome yet dim Tom Grunick, the sardonic and schlubby Aaron Altman (Hurt and Brooks, respectively) — vying for the affections of Jane Craig (Hunter), an erratic and brilliant news producer. The characters and relationships are so well crafted that it’s hard to imagine them as fictional people.

But there’s another major part of Broadcast News that I love: a sequence in which Jane and Tom go to the White House Correspondents Dinner. A formal affair, Jane appears for the first time in the film in a fancy dress, proving herself put-together outside the hectic atmosphere of the newsroom. And what a dress it is!

It’s an epic dress, all right, one that looks very much like something someone would definitely wear in 1987 when the film was released. And I think Holly Hunter looks amazing in it, and assumed that was the correct reaction. But once I was watching the movie with a friend who physically recoiled and gasped when Hunter walked on screen in it.

When she meets Tom at the dinner, he is beaming at how beautiful she is, and he says, “That’s an outlaw dress!” My friend shouted, “Tell me about it!” I couldn’t believe it! I’m not much of a fan of polka dots and giant bows, especially not when they’re paired together, but something about Holly Hunter in it feels so endearing and gorgeous. To hear my friend reject it felt like a personal affront. And, hey, it’s not like I’m going to wear the damn thing.

But there’s something about it I love so much, possibly because Jane seems to transform completely once she puts on the dress. There’s something incredibly adorable about her character (Hunter, of course, deserves as much credit as the costume designer). For example, when Aaron catches the way she puts on perfume.

“I read about it in a magazine!” she says. “It’s how you know not to put on too much.”

And later, when she visits Aaron after the dinner, tells her she’s in love with Tom, and he replies by saying, “Tom, while being a very nice guy, is the devil.” Needless to say, she doesn’t take it well.

If I had a test to determine who I could get along with, certainly liking Broadcast News would be a requirement. But if that person can’t appreciate that dress, then there’s no way we can be best friends. When Jane screams to Aaron, “This is important to me!” and has tears welling in her eyes, I get it. After all, I love Jane, and that dress is almost, for me, an extension of her identity as a character I adore. You can’t rag on that dress in my presence. You’d most definitely fail my litmus test.

Photos: 20th Century Fox