A revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it.
Director: Jay Roach
Cast: Charlize Theron,
Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton,
Malcolm McDowell, Allison Janney
Release Date: December 13,
2019
Rated R for sexual
material and language throughout
Runtime: 1hr 48 min.
Genres: Biography, Drama
Review:
Bombshell’s impact on
anyone is sure to be colored by their feeling about the real life people
portrayed. Jay Roach delivers a funny
but ultimately depressing tales about the behind the scenes machinations at
propaganda machine as known as Fox News.
Roach has the unenviable task of displaying people who are all on
varying scales of terrible. The tale
about Roger Ailes numerous misdeeds was previously covered on Showtime’s The
Loudest Voice so Bombshell feels a bit like a companion piece since this film
focuses more on the woman than Ailes himself.
As such the trio of Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie are
front and center and truly carry the film.
Charlize Theron’s Megyn Kelly is one of those transformative performances
that is sure to garner her a lot of awards buzz and with good reason. She’s nearly unrecognizable here, capturing
Kelly’s look and voice with an uncanny degree of accuracy. The performance is such an attention grabber
that it’s easy to overlook Nicole Kidman and Margo Robbie slightly more subtle
performances. Kidman’s take on Gretchen
Carlson is solid but it’s hard to say it any better than Naomi Watt’s version
on The Loudest Voice. Robbie’s character
is a composite character but serves a purpose of putting us in the room with
Ailes while he’s harassing and victimizing these women. John Lithgow’s take on Roger Ailes isn’t as a
nuanced as Russell Crowe’s take earlier this year which leads to the bigger
issue at play. Bombshell seems content
with going through basics but never really cares to dig any deep or offer any
colors of gray. As such certain
characters are painted as heroes which can be difficult to swallow since their
real life counterparts are terrible for other reasons.
B
