Summary: A group of women take on Fox News head Roger Ailes and the toxic atmosphere he presided over at the network.
This will be a short review.
Pros:
The Acting. Charlize Theron headlines the film as Megyn Kelly and I’m not like super familiar with Megyn Kelly but from what I have seen, I was immediately taken aback and how much she not only looked like her but sounded like her. It was very weird, but she was really good. She’s the most interesting character out of the main three women we meet in the film. She goes through a lot of emotions when dealing with the Trump thing in the film, as well as the Roger stuff later. Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson was good, I’m not familiar with this woman so I’m not sure what she’s like, but as a character, I liked that Nicole Kidman had a lot of moments where her character reacts emotionally to things, I guess she would be one of the emotional centers of the movie. Margot Robbie plays fictional Kayla Pospisil and she is a young conservative who wants to be big in Fox News and she represents another emotional center of the film as things are actively happening to her that has happened in the past to both Megyn and Gretchen. She has a great moment on the phone with Kate McKinnon and with John Lithgow’s Roger Ailes. She’s great at reacting. John Lithgow as Roger Ailes (who I am also no familiar with) was great in a lot of ways. I don’t want to give away the movie, but his character will probably make you uncomfortable and he’s very good at it.
Great Costumes/Look of the Film. The amazing Colleen Atwood is the costume designer on this film and I really loved everything I saw the women wearing. The outfits they all wear in the elevator scene (in the photo above) were some of my favorites. Even the background characters had great clothes as well. It really reflected what women went through while at Fox News in their clothes.
Set in Reality/Important Message. So, I’m not sure what really transpired that the movie highlights, but I like the fact that not only is it based on true events but it’s so relevant. Women constantly deal with harassment from men in the workplace, it’s been a thing for a long time. The movie goes to great lengths to show us this in various ways and how it affects them. It’s never okay regardless if the man is in power. It’s disgusting and the fact that it’s still a thing is a major problem. So, I appreciate the movie for taking a pretty bold step in sharing this story.
Cons:
Not attached to characters. While I think the story is relevant, I didn’t find myself really attached or emotionally invested in any of the characters. I cared because of the nature of the story and that it happened to these women but not for the characters themselves. I think the only time I really felt something was for Kayla and I think it has to do with the fact that we see it happening. I’m not too positive but there was a disconnect.
Jumbled/Slow Paced Storytelling. At first, I really had no idea what this movie was about. I went into it not knowing and as it began to unfold, I found myself being like “wait what?” It’s not difficult to understand but I think the way the movie is told, even with the timecards and stuff, it doesn’t do the best job in making the story flow the way it should. Being that we have three women who hardly ever interact with each other, we must follow each of their stories, and I think Gretchen got the short end of the stick the most. But instead of it unfolding the way an intense drama would, it doesn’t quite make it as hard hitting as it should? Does that make sense? lol
Shallow. Again, the nature of the story is powerful buuuut I feel like the movie could have made it more of an emotional hit. This really ties into the above points, but all these things prevent the movie from really being intense the way it should be… to me at least. But the topic of this movie is a powerful and emotional topic and it didn’t make it there for me. It had the right actors, maybe because it was based on real events and not a completely fictional story that they could only do so much take liberties with the content.
Overall, I liked Bombshell for the most part. I liked the acting, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie were great leading actresses with interesting characters, some more than others, but still interesting enough to hold my attention. I like the nature of the story and the topics they cover in the film from the Trump election to harassment in the workplace and I think those are very relevant and pretty interesting topics. The film has a great look to it, particularly the costumes and the prosthetic work on Theron as Megyn Kelly and Lithgow as Roger Ailes. I did not however like the work done on Kidman. It was badly distracting. On the other hand, I feel like the movie was a bit shallow, weirdly told and paced and I didn’t find myself invested in the characters. The acting was great, but the writing was meh. It’s a pretty good movie though.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
Have you see Bombshell? What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments below!
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