One of the most interesting aspects of watching films, is observing the era in which they're filmed and ultimately released in. There are numerous films that bear with their stories cultural significance in representing the time, mood, and era in which they were released. In the case of Bombshell, the film explores two general shifts in the regular cultural atmosphere. The first is the rise of Donald Trump during the 2016 Presidential election with the film showing his influence on the harassment of popular news anchor and debate moderator Megyn Kelly, as well as the coverage he received from right-leaning Fox News network. The second serves as being one of the early stages of the #Me Too era, as well as a representation of it in which numerous women reject the norm of being sexually harassed on a regular basis by the head of the news station, and decide to fight back by coming forward with their humiliating yet eye-opening stories of misconduct in what's essentially shown to be a toxic working environment at Fox News network. Bombshell's story is significant because it gets right to the heart of the #Me Too movement by showing the vulnerability and fear, that many of its victims had in regards to reporting their abuses due to not wanting to be looked upon as being liars with the fear of retribution from their abusers. The film works well as being an effective true-to-life story of sexual harassment, along with showing how it became normalized at it's news network. The film benefits from the terrific acting performances of its main cast, particularly Charlize Theron who continues to show audiences that she's one of the best actresses working today with Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Kate McKinnon, and John Lithgow all rising to the occasion in regards to bringing their A game here. Bombshell is not just a made-for-television drama that shows misconduct in the workplace, the film also serves as being both an experience as well as a revealing one for its audience, even if it doesn't totally explore its story and themes to maximum potential.
Based on true events, the plot for Bombshell centers around Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson (Played by Nicole Kidman) initiating a lawsuit against the head of Fox News Roger Ailes (Played by John Lithgow) for sexual harassment along with revealing the truth about the toxic environment surrounding the network under his watch, which essentially allowed these actions to be continuous. Her lawsuit was also joined by popular news anchor Megyn Kelly, as well as other numerous employees of Fox News in coming forward with their stories regarding discrimination, harassment, and assault. In an era where the #Me Too movement has emerged and shifted into full force with numerous women coming forward with their stories. Bombshell's story aims right at the heart of the movement, as well as being a perfect representation of its significance. The film is about power, vulnerability, and bravery with all three themes being thoroughly explored and ultimately revealed. The film reveals its engaging plot like a novel with the main story being so interesting it plays out like a page turner. The film chronicles three major cases of sexual misconduct against Roger Ailes with the characters that Theron, Kidman, and Robbie ultimately play. What helps the story be as interesting and effective as it ultimately comes across as being, is the solid storytelling and humanity that the filmmakers bring to the story as well as the realistic performances from its main cast. For the main actresses and actors, this is an important story to tell and they deliver their A game in regards to bringing their characters to life. What makes the story an intriguing one is the realism behind it. Whether audiences agree or disagree with the politics of the network shown in the film, they find themselves sympathizing with the main characters in regards to coming forward with their stories regarding misconduct and discrimination. The films ultimate message is a noble one that says it's always better to speak out when bad things happen in order to prevent them from happening again. Bombshell is a film that works because of it's well-intentions in regards to telling its story with both the filmmakers, as well as the main stars all generating a reasonable amount of sympathy for the main victims, while also exploring the politics behind the controversial news network.
One of the key elements behind Bombshell that gives it its sheer power in terms of being an effective drama, is the phenomenal performances of its three main actresses along with John Lithgow as Roger Ailes. Charlize Theron is a force in terms of being a dramatic actress with her performance as Megyn Kelly being both a commanding and compelling one. Her performance is spot-on with Theron delivering the right mannerisms to properly imitate her real-life counterpart, along with giving audiences a glimpse of what her character was thinking or feeling during the whole reveal of Roger Ailes mistreatment of female employees at Fox News. Theron adds a great deal of tension and suspense to the story with her trying to piece together the truth regarding the lawsuit against Ailes, along with trying to quietly seek other women with similar stories of abuse against him while still coping with her own assault years prior. Her work in the film is more restrained and reserved compared to her previous performances, but remains powerful nonetheless. Nicole Kidman delivers a terrific performance as Fox newscaster Gretchen Carlson with her character shown to be the one to initiate the lawsuit against Ailes. Kidman beings a similar style of confidence and commanding performance to her part with her character shown to be visibly frustrated at being the only woman to come forward with harassment allegations against Roger with her character knowing there's more stories out there. Margot Robbie proves terrific while adding more emotional weight to the story as Fox News employee Kayla Pospisil with Robbie showing the vulnerability, humiliation, and fear that women have for not standing up to men in power like Roger Ailes. Her character represents a younger generation of women who may or may not carry experiences similar to the one her character endures in the story with Robbie playing the role to absolute perfection along with Theron and Kidman. She easily carries one of the films most intense and powerful moments with her character being blindsided at first to the slimy intentions of her employer, is left completely stunned and helpless as she's forced to lift her skirt up in a humiliating display to fulfill her bosses demands while being threatened with silence. It's a scene that's bound to leave audiences feeling both uncomfortable and angry, but is played to maximum effect by both Robbie and Lithgow. Kate McKinnon shines in her role as Kayla's savvy co-worker Jess Carr with Carr revealing to Kayla that she's an undercover Lesbian/liberal working for Fox News mainly because no one else will hire her due to her association with the network. McKinnon does well and makes the most of her part with her character being both paranoid and fearful of being discovered at Fox News for being gay along with knowing of Kayla's encounters with Roger. Whereas all the main actresses give stellar performances, John Lithgow meets them with a superb performance as the powerful yet deceiving Roger Ailes. Lithgow completely owns his character and gives audiences a villain in the story they grow to to despise other than Donald J. Trump with Ailes using both his reputation and position in power to force his female employees to perform sexual favors for him in exchange for moving up to higher positions in the news station. Lithgow balances out the film with a performance, that matches the caliber of work that the three main female stars bring to the picture. The rest of the supporting cast gives notable performances with Connie Britton as Beth Ailes, Malcom McDowell as Rupert Murdoch, Kevin Dorf as Bill O' Reilly, Spencer Garrett as Sean Hannity, and Richard Kind as Rudy Guliani. The cast of Bombshell goes a long way in regards to making the story come across as being both believable and compelling with all the main actors/actresses taking their roles and adding something to the film. The movie wouldn't work as well as it does without the combined talents of its main stars nor the clear dedication and devotion they bring in regards to telling the story. Of all the performances in the film, it is Charlize Theron that steals the show with her characters strength and determination to get to the truth being projected on the screen, as well as her desire to put other powerful individuals in check with regards to their mistreatment of women.
The films directing by Jay Roach proves to be both steady and confident with him keeping the film tightly-paced and suspenseful as the story slowly unfolds. Roach directs the film in a style that gives his actors a great deal of free reign to play their roles while adding intensity to the film. He portrays the downfall of a serial abuser as being a compelling story, that carries with it a pacing that's near perfect with the story never coming across as feeling boring nor tiresome. If anything, it leaves the audience wanting more in regards to knowing more about the cases. The film is well-shot with strong cinematography, giving the film a docudrama style feel to it with terrific makeup work that effectively makes the actresses look like their real-life counterparts. Roach balances out the three major stories of harassment committed by Ailes well enough to where none of them feels like they're dominant over the other two or vice versa. Despite Roach doing an effective job of bringing the characters and story to life on the big screen in a way that makes it entertaining and engaging, the film can't help but shake off the feeling that it's an expensive made-for-television film that just happened to receive a theatrical release due to its main stars backing it. Roach gives the film solid production values while proving to be reasonably decent at generating suspense and tension with the films plot. One wonders what more he could've done with the film had the script been more meatier with the past history of Ailes abuses, particularly the one involving Kelly which is barely shown through quick yet effective flashbacks. In terms of the filmmaking aspect of the film, the most impressive element is the fantastic make-up effects as Theron, Kidman, and Lithgow are almost totally unrecognizable in their roles.
The films screenplay by Charles Randolph works well in terms of balancing out all three major stories of harassment, while showing how they're all connected along with giving the audience behind-the-scenes information regarding the cases and the politics behind the Fox News network. What the script does well is fleshing out the three main female characters to the point where the audience not only has empathy for them but understands their reasonings for not coming forward immediately with their assaults while showing the toxic environment surrounding them, that allowed the harassment of women in the news station to be widespread. The story is presented in a fashion that makes it feel dramatic with a satirical edge to it such as showing the impact of the 2016 Republican Presidential Primary in the background as the events of harassment conducted by Ailes, as well as the lawsuit begin to unfold. What's shown effectively through the writing is Theron's character Kelly's shock and anger at her studios refusal to defend her against constant attacks being directed at her by then Republican Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump. The film shows the fallout of her characters rightful questioning of Trumps attacks on women, while simultaneously questioning his temperament to be president during the first Presidential debate with random people on the street approaching her shouting "Trump 2016" as an act of disapproval and intimidation for her questioning. The script also shows the young female generations desire to make it in corporate America through the characters of Robbie and McKinnon with them also being shown to be afraid of the wrath of the news station they work for if they speak of any misconduct happening, or if McKinnon's characters true sexuality and political ambitions are discovered (It's revealed that she's a closeted Hillary fan). The films most disturbing moments come from the type of language and power that Roger Ailes used in courting young talent in his news organization. The script shows him preying on young and aspiring talent that usually results in him either asking for a favor or using quid pro quo in getting what he wanted out of them, while presenting no other option for them to advance in the news station. What Bombshell does well with its writing is showing how the abuse of power in regards to both the sexual harassing and assaulting of women went unchecked for so long, and how it was ultimately empowered by its owners. The films noble intentions in regards to showing the courage of the three main women in coming forward against Ailes, is shown to be a noble and righteous act that brought some sense of peace and satisfaction of justice to their cases.
As effective as Bombshell performs in regards to storytelling, one can't help but wonder how much more the films themes and concepts regarding harassment, the abuse of power, toxic work environment, and sexism could've been explored had the writer and director elaborated further on Roger Alies actions against women. There is enough depth and information given to make the audiences invested in both the characters, as well as the story without it feeling bland or uninspired. The film succeeds in delivering a powerful statement regarding the mistreatment of women with the film serving as encouragement for those with past experiences of harassment or abuse to come forward with their stories. As the film shows, such an act should be looked upon as being both courageous and brave as those who prey on the powerless or take advantage of certain situations deserve to face retribution for their actions. Could the film have explored its plot more in-depth? Yes, Megyn Kelly's encounter with Roger could've been explored upon more by the filmmakers rather than just barely shown through flashbacks with the same being said about Gretchen's character.The film makes a conscious effort to explore the themes of harassment and sexual abuse through the lense of a young generation of women with showing Robbie's character experiencing it firsthand by Ailes and being afraid to speak about it for fear of discipline. Although Bombshell could've gone further with its plot, it still manages to leave a solid impact with audiences in regards to presenting its story while examining the atmosphere surrounding the characters that took the passive approach to things instead of confronting it head on. The film ultimately works as well as it does thanks to the fantastic performances of its main cast, as well as the sincerity and dedication the filmmakers put into telling its story. Ailes was a despicable character with zero filter who genuinely thought he could get away with his mistreatment of women with his ultimate downfall being greatly anticipated by audiences while being watched with a large ounce of satisfaction. Whereas audiences may or may not agree with agree with the political views that the main female characters share (All are presented as being right-leaning conservatives with the exception of Kate McKinnon's character), they will find themselves being united in their desire to seeing the victims of Ailes stand up to their controlling and overbearing boss who should've experienced his downfall much sooner. Bombshell is one of 2019's most beautifully acted and understated films as it's an intense, powerful, and ultimately eye-opening experience for audiences with it showing the early stages of the #Me Too movement coming to fruition.
Final Verdict: For Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie fans and those who enjoy biographical and historical dramas, Bombshell satisfies with its tremendous acting performances from its cast as well as its desire to entertain and enlighten audiences on the climate of sexual harassment both economically as well as politically.
Final Verdict: For Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie fans and those who enjoy biographical and historical dramas, Bombshell satisfies with its tremendous acting performances from its cast as well as its desire to entertain and enlighten audiences on the climate of sexual harassment both economically as well as politically.
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