Which feels more than a little like a cop-out; the problem isn’t the victims, it’s the harassers and the people who make excuses for them. Production companies: Bron Studios, Denver + Delilah Productions, Lighthouse Management & Media, Creative Wealth Media It’s a marvel of transformation. But don’t forget that it’s July 2016. Ailes comes off as a guy who sexually harasses people because he feels bad about his body, which just makes him a pitiable figure. The weirdest beat in Bombshell comes at the end, and I suppose you could call this a spoiler except you and I both know what happened to Roger Ailes. Margot Robbie shines in the role of Kayla, a rare character who’s not based on an actual person but rather a composite of various network employees who suffered through Ailes’ lewd advances. But how that frat house atmosphere was established remains unclear, and which aspects of it the film wants to target are fuzzy. Casting: Allison Jones. Some of the performances are startlingly dead-on, like Alanna Ubach’s Jeanine Pirro and Allison Janney’s Susan Estrich.
Director Jay Roach’s film follows those fraught days during the summer of 2016, when “Fox & Friends” morning show co-host Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against the former Fox News CEO and Megyn Kelly—the network’s biggest star at that point—came forward with Ailes harassment tales of her own. Three cheers for Gretchen and Megyn and Kayla and the whole gang!
“All Trump does is watch Fox,” says Rob Delaney as Kelly’s producer.
Workplace sexual harassment is a plague, and though its pervasiveness in the Fox News culture is well-documented, it clearly knows no political bounds. Charlize Theron, Fox News, Kate McKinnon, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Roger Ailes. In no time at all, you truly feel as if you’re watching Kelly herself, and the fact that she’s doing an extended walk-and-talk to explain the inner workings of the conservative news network accomplishes a couple of crucial things right off the top. Trump team makes a suspicious effort to swing the election with purported Hunter Biden emails. In This Article:
“Bombshell” is both light on its feet and a punch in the gut. Nothing’s going to change. The three women go through grueling personal trials and tests of strength in the very compressed period of time, all emerging stronger than they were before — even if the struggle might not have anything they would have willingly chosen to take on. 'Bombshell' stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie shine in story of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes' fall. It seems, for a second, that the rather unsteady-on-its-feet Bombshell is about to stick the landing.
But Bombshell turns that flying leap into a faceplant. The newsroom has the air of a frat house, though one where closeted lesbian and closeted liberal Jess Carr (a fictional character played by Kate McKinnon) can stick around if she keeps her mouth shut. Cheers, too, for Margot Robbie as Fox newbie Kayla Pospisil, a composite character who represents many of the women Ailes promised to “help” as they navigated their careers. If the physical attributes of the principals demand to be dwelled upon at some length, it’s because they loom large in the Fox scheme of things, a construct that Bombshell dissects and examines with considerable vigor. Three extraordinary actors, directed with artful purpose by Jay Roach (HBO’s Recount, Game Change and All the Way) from a slashing script by Charles Randolph (The Big Short), make Bombshell an explosive piece of entertainment that also means to make a difference.
Roach and Randolph use this energy and malign intent, which passes down from Ailes — or Jabba the Hut, as he’s called — to the film’s considerable benefit. (This is a great, showy role for Lithgow, giving him plenty of room to show his range as he portrays the profane, predatory and paranoid sides of the portly executive’s personality.) (It also suffers, painfully, from not being funny.). Also during the summer of 2016 – and yes, it really does feel like a lifetime ago - Donald Trump is rising to power as the Republican presidential nominee, and his trajectory is becoming intrinsically intertwined with that of his favorite TV news channel. I’d firstly like to write about my own personal experience and then address some of the common comments I’ve seen in some of the negative reviews that I strongly disagree with and think is completely unfair. The weirdest beat in Bombshell comes at the end, and I suppose you could call this a spoiler except you and I both know what happened to Roger Ailes.In July 2016, the disgraced former head of … Unfortunately the tone is all over the place.
By clicking “I agree” below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. Sign up for our newsletter. In July 2016, the disgraced former head of Fox News — played by an extremely jowly John Lithgow in the film — was abruptly ousted from his job after several women at the network accused him of sexual harassment. Even if we set aside the politics of fear peddled by Fox News itself, the idea that women banding together is all it will take to end harassment is obviously unearned optimism. About Our Ads Maintaining such radiant confidence becomes an increasing challenge for Kelly once Carlson (Nicole Kidman, conveying both on-air sweetness and off-air ambition) brings her lawsuit against Ailes (John Lithgow, also undergoing a significant physical transformation). When Gretchen Carlson (a fabulously brittle Nicole Kidman) files a lawsuit against Ailes (John Lithgow) after being dropped by the network, she inspires a wave of confessions from other women. Roach includes actual footage—and sometimes seamlessly inserts his actors into the images—but he also employs hand-held camerawork and snap-zooms as if he were directing an episode of “The Office,” and the approach feels inconsistent and a little jarring. And so Kelly’s clash with Trump as debate moderator—based on a question she asked him about his treatment of women over the years—further makes her a target and heightens the kind of scrutiny and misogyny she and so many women face when they tell their stories of abuse and harassment. After decades during which American broadcast news was expected to maintain a certain balance and not indulge in outright partisanship — there was a thing called the fairness doctrine — Fox upended this decorum with its brash advocacy of conservative positions and overt catering to a right-wing public, often dispensed by attractive blondes. Funny, sharp, one of the best of the year. Sign up for the But with shocking speed, Humpty Dumpty has a great fall. In 2016, when the film begins, her star power is cemented during a presidential debate in which she throws shade at candidate Donald Trump for his debasement of women. It’s all weighty, serious material with huge stakes—emotionally, culturally and financially. Bombshell Critics Consensus. Bombshell review – redacted notes on a scandal 2 / 5 stars 2 out of 5 stars.
© 2020 The Hollywood Reporter Bombshell is a lurid, cartoonish romp, marred by rough and sometimes overbearing flourishes, but not without a tragicomic soul.
Rudy Giuliani is again trying to drum up a scandal about the Bidens and Ukraine. The dynamic drive and pace of the film can partly be attributed merely to the fact that the primary setting is a newsroom, where deadline-driven writers are constantly under pressure; infused with constant energy and tension, the Fox headquarters is effectively made to seem like the second-most consequential place on Earth, just short of the White House itself. It’s grimly funny when fresh hire Rudi Bakhtiar (Nazanin Boniadi) details the mental gymnastics a woman must perform to save face when her boss invites himself up to her hotel room: “Just look confused,” says her inner monologue. But it also doesn’t try to be fair and balanced, to borrow the network’s slogan—and its incisive point of view is one of the film’s many great strengths. It was Carlson who sued Ailes, thereby helping to end the reign of the sleaze prophet of his time, a man who liked to bring female employees into his private office and ask them to twirl. Director: Jay Roach The new film is a shockingly bad take on a very important issue. A smart, snappy depiction of the Fox News ogre getting his comeuppance. This glossy portrayal of Ailes’s downfall secured Oscar nominations last week for Charlize Theron, as anchor Megyn Kelly, and Margot Robbie, as fictionalised “evangelical millennial” news producer Kayla Pospisil.
What happened to these women is appalling; that the film takes such pains to sand down the politics of its central characters to make them more sympathetic undermines its entire thesis. | Cookie Settings. But by talking directly to us, much of the time with a wink and a smile, Theron also softens Kelly’s icy, rigid persona, making her more sympathetic and accessible. “Bombshell” may not change anyone’s minds—especially not those viewers who, as the film points out, have the Fox News logo burned into the bottom corner of their TV screens because they never change the channel. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Coronavirus is surging in Europe — but less so in Germany. Incredible ensemble and a hard hitting subject. Theron’s Kelly and Kidman’s Carlson are at distinctly different spots on the career spectrum, with Kelly at the red-hot center of things and Carlson perhaps moving past her peak. There’s enough of Ailes’ grossly abusive behavior on display to make it clear that the price is very high indeed. newsletter. See our, Read a limited number of articles each month, You consent to the use of cookies and tracking by us and third parties to provide you with personalized ads, Unlimited access to washingtonpost.com on any device, Unlimited access to all Washington Post apps, No on-site advertising or third-party ad tracking. by The end credits roll as Regina Spektor sings: Bet you never thought your soldiers could undo ya, now did you?But to tip the score it sometimes takes just oneOne little soldierTalking to the othersOne little soldierRunning through your tower. Frighten, titillate.”. Instead of confronting this tension, it pats itself on the back, ending with a title card that celebrates how these women “got the Murdochs to put the rights of women above profits, however temporarily”. Editor: Jon Poll For its first half-hour or so, Bombshell feels like it might be a smug but darkly clever satirical romp. The only thing you can say for Ailes as portrayed here is that he’s upfront; he’s quite clear about the price of admission, and each woman decides whether or not to pay it. Sitemap | It’s triggered by Ailes’ firing of the somewhat older on-air reporter Carlson, telling her, “You’re sexy, but you’re too much work.” Despite a big payout, she retaliates with a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes himself, hires the best lawyers and inspires numerous other women, including Kelly, to come forward with claims against the big boss. That alone makes it a genuine movie of the moment. Facebook and Twitter took drastic measures to limit the reach of a disputed story about Hunter Biden. An array of form-fitting, jewel-toned sheath dresses and painfully high heels is meant to convey just the right mix of trustworthiness and sex appeal. Then there’s the figure whose appearance onscreen earned the dubious distinction of prompting the most laughter at my screening, Rudy Giuliani (Richard Kind). Instead of showing the full brunt of what happens to Kayla, the film moves between Kayla and two other women. The realism is uncanny.
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