DECEMBER 17, 2019
When I first heard that a film was planned depicting the 2016 ouster of Fox News founder Roger Ailes on charges of sexual harassment, all kinds of red flags came up in my head.
Would it be like an SNL cold open with well-known actors in make-up playing Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly? Or would the tone be more satirical, which might be the most effective way of dealing with Fox News but would run the risk of belittling the complaints of the victims involved? Or should it be straightforward look at the effects of harassment on women in the business world?
It’s a tricky challenge to set the right tone, but, for the most part, director Jay Roach and screenwriter Charles Randolph walk that narrative tightrope successfully, striking that difficult balance between entertainment and outrage in the resulting film “Bombshell,” which opened in limited release this past weekend and will be everywhere beginning on Friday. Truth be told, I was no fan of Randolph’s Oscar-winning script for “The Big Short” — I felt it had a smug “smartest-boy-in-the-room” tone to it — but whatever the problem was there, he has got it out of his system here with a script that is smart, humorous and shocking, all at the same time.
Randolph co-wrote “The Big Short” with Adam McKay, who went on to direct “Vice,” which is the other film that I feared that “Bombshell” would be like. Luckily, the director at the helm here is Jay Roach who, like McKay, began his film career in comedies (the “Austin Powers” and “Meet the Parents” films) but added a dimension with the political side of his filmmaking with two outstanding HBO films 2008’s “Recount” and 2012’s “Game Change,” both of which won him Best Director Emmy Awards.
Roach’s comedic chops are evident in “Bombshell’s” opening sequence in which Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) breaks the fourth wall and talks to us in the audience directly giving us a lovely guided tour of the Fox News building, with the newsroom in the basement and “the second floor,” which means you’re summoned to Ailes’ office. It’s a very shrewd way to introduce us to the world of “Bombshell.” Theron’s Megan becomes the dishiest tour guide ever, giving us a few catty asides about some of the people we’ll meet, but you know that she knows more than she’s telling us, which is great. It also warms us on to Megan, who in real life has a controversial image, but whom we need to like in order for the story to work. More on that later.
Besides Megan, two other women figure prominently in “Bombshell.” Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), co-host of “Fox & Friends,” Donald Trump’s admittedly favorite show, began to tire of the sexist remarks coming her way both on and off camera to the point where she once walked off in the midst of a live show. Unhappy with her “feminist” attitude, Ailes pulled her off “Fox and & Friends,” giving her a solo stint in the afternoon that proved to be the kiss of death, and eventually she was let go. Gretchen in turn decided to sue Ailes for sexual harassment, with the assumption that other women at Fox whom Ailes propositioned would back her up. None did.
Interwoven throughout is the story of Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), a composite character based on the many young blonde women who have passed through the doors of Fox News and right into Ailes’ office. A Christian millennial and Florida weather girl, she lands a job on Gretchen’s afternoon show, but as she’s Ailes’ type, Kayla soon gets promoted to the prestigious primetime “O’Reilly Factor.” There she meets closet lesbian Democrat Kate Carr (Kate McKinnon) who tries to fill her in on how power works at Fox, but Kayla wants an on-air job, and there’s only one person who can give that to her. Unfortunately, in the film’s most horrifying scene, Kayla’s audition before Ailes requires her to degrade herself sexually. Robbie is tremendously effective in this scene as you can see the stages of surprise, horror and shame pass across her face.
But the core of “Bombshell” is Megyn. Her crisis of conscience begins at the 2016 Fox News Republican debate where, as one of the moderators, she asks Trump a tough question about his attitude toward women, a question that Trump didn’t like at all. In the coming days, Trump attacked her mercilessly, most famously saying that she “had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” Though perhaps not in the way Megyn intended it, the incident raised her profile to the point where, when Gretchen’s lawsuit against Ailes was filed, there were whispers in the industry as to whether the same thing may have happened to Megyn. Turns out, it had.
In a distinguished career highlighted by an Oscar for 2003’s “Monster,” this is one of Theron’s very best performances. It’s not just her way with a line, but watch her physical performance as well — she strides down the hallway wearing her pair of Fox News high-heeled shoes with the confidence of her Imperiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road.” This is a woman who is not going to take crap from any man, yet inside she is struggling to come to terms with the sexual harassment that she has had to endure to get her where she is now.
If “Bombshell” falls down in any area, it might be the lack of acknowledgement of just that point — that perhaps, by their silence in pursuit of their own careers, these women may have been a little bit complicit in perpetuating the frat boy atmosphere at Fox News that later harmed younger women like Kayla trying to rise up the ladder. No one gets off the hook completely in “Bombshell.”
Yes, moviegoers will have many choices at the movies this coming weekend, from “Star Wars” to “Cats.” But if you’re looking for something a bit more intellectually challenging, you could do far worse than the emotionally satisfying “Bombshell.”
GRADE: B+
