Bombshell
As reported by Dollyforme
There are quite a few hotties in this great movie. Nicole Kidman for one looks simply great in this amazing Biopic. The story goes that in August 2015, Fox newscaster Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) becomes ill as she prepares to moderate the Republican debate. Fox News CEO Roger Ailes (John Lithgow), who favors conspiracy theories, thinks she may have been poisoned. Kelly is criticized after asking then-candidate Donald J. Trump about his past sexist remarks and if a man of his temperament should be elected president. He begins to tweet insulting remarks about her—and others follow suit. Fox hires security for Kelly after a photographer trespasses and takes a photo of her children at home.
Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) loses her position as cohost of Fox and Friends in 2013. She’s given her own daytime show, but ratings are low. After being fired by Fox in 2016, she files a sexual harassment lawsuit against Ailes. Her lawyers inform her of how difficult this will be because of the combined power of Fox and Ailes, but Carlson persists. She is certain that others will come forward to support her lawsuit, but they do not—at first.
Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie) is a young, ambitious new hire at Fox who wants her own show. When she visits Ailes in his office, he asks her to show her loyalty by pulling up her skirt. Pospisil is mortified, outraged, and confused, her hopes suddenly clouded.
Carlson’s lawsuit goes public. Almost everyone at Fox News supports Ailes, while Kelly is surprisingly silent. When she refuses to speak up for Ailes and shares her own story with colleagues, the scene is set for the bombshell revelations of Carlson’s lawsuit and the consequences that follow. Overall, the movie is more an expose on toxic work environments than anything overtly political, Bombshell is an effective true-life drama about the many pitfalls, humiliations, traps, harassment, and compromises that women face in the workforce. We follow the downfall of news magnate Roger Ailes (John Lithgow), the imposing man who built the Fox News empire and who also bullied his employees and solicited sexual favors from the many women who were on his payroll. Margot Robbie plays an invented character meant to provide that entry point into Ailes the creep in creepy action. She'll be harassed and pressured for sex by a man described as "Jabba the Hut," and Robbie is terrific in her big dramatic moments portraying what the pressure and shame does for her ambitious anchor. The other two main characters wrestle with how far to go in a corporate culture of keeping secrets from very powerful, very dirty old men. Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) is consulting lawyers for a personal harassment lawsuit against Ailes the person, not Fox News, but she needs other women to come forward. Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) is struggling with the scrutiny she has endured after then-presidential candidate Donald Trump
Written by Charles Randolph and directed by Jay Roach, Bombshell is not an easy film to watch. To see these women continually humiliated, demeaned, and harassed—both on-air and in private—is disgusting. However, the film is important for two reasons. In the context of the #MeToo movement in American culture, this is both a warning shot about male privilege and encouragement for women to speak up about respect and equity in the workplace. Bombshell gives insight into how the reporters and “entertainers” of Fox News seek to influence their audience by choosing stories that instill fear and elicit outrage.
The performances in the film are spot-on, especially Theron as Kelly. At times I didn’t know if I was watching—and hearing—the actor or Kelly herself. Robbie, also excellent, plays a character composite of several women who work or worked at Fox News. A must-see as a rental or VOD.
