Bombshell

— With Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie, you get a film where the actors put their all into the characters and, in this case, those characters are Megyn Kelly, and Gretchen Carlson, along with Kayla Pospisil, a fictional Fox employee. The three women become the focus of this based-on-fact telling of Fox founder Roger Ailes’ fall after being exposed as a sexual harasser. The story is a good one, and one of the first of the news and entertainment industry scandals, but there’s something a little off about the film. It’s a wonderful script with some of the same feel as “The Big Short,” a film co-written by the screenwriter of “Bombshell.” Unfortunately, “Bombshell” probably needs fewer attempts at humor and less narration. After all, this is a cast that’s more than up to conveying a dramatic moment. Sadly, the women are also left a little too removed from the audience so they come off as somewhat unfeeling, instead of giving us a deeper look into their hearts. These aren’t terrible things, but enough to keep “Bombshell” off my “top 20 of 2019” list. It’s still well worth seeing and it’s a good film, just a little disappointing given the talent and the story.

---

[2019. 108 min. Directed by Jay Roach. Starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, and John Lithgow.]
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/bombshell-movie-review-2019