Bombshell (2019)

[baumer]

Discuss

[filmlover]

There's nothing to be found here that we didn't already know, but this is a fairly compelling dramatization of the takedown of Roger Ailes (the closing titles may be a little on the nose but are very fitting). I liked that it kept the politics to a minimum, mainly focusing on the fall of a repulsive human being who was seemingly untouchable (until he wasn't). The acting alone justifies this movie's existence: Charlize Theron absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Megyn Kelly, which is so good that it's almost hard to believe we're not watching the real Kelly (and just because of the obvious physical resemblance). Margot Robbie is equally terrific as the ingenue who discovers her dream job is also her worst nightmare. Nicole Kidman has the least to do among the three but does a solid job channeling Gretchen Carlson, while the rest of the fine cast provides good work, including John Lithgow as the monstrous Ailes and a surprisingly effective performance from Kate McKinnon in which she does zero mugging for a change. Among year-end movies tackling recent events in the political/real world arena, this works better than last year's Vice I thought. B

[Cap]

16 hours ago, filmlover said:

Charlize Theron absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Megyn Kelly, which is so good that it's almost hard to believe we're not watching the real Kelly (and just because of the obvious physical resemblance).

My Mom on the way home said, "Sometimes I wondered when Theron was gonna show until I remember she was Megyn Kelly."

 

I agree with everything else you said.

 

My big take away was it's such a brutal assessment of how women treat each other.  No one would come forward -- despite knowing the truth -- because they were too concerned with their retaining their positions of power.  Cause we can't help each other.  We feel that "well, I got there, and I survived it, so that's just the way it is."  There were so many opportunities for the women to help Robbie's character and no one did.  It was all too real.  We drown ourselves in internal misogyny, so determined to be taken as seriously as a man that we will hurt other women in the process.  (Also: this is just my read; this is not an invitation to dog pile on.)

 

The movie did a great job creating a toxic environment.    

[filmlover]

4 hours ago, Force Ghost Cap said:

My Mom on the way home said, "Sometimes I wondered when Theron was gonna show until I remember she was Megyn Kelly."

 

I agree with everything else you said.

 

My big take away was it's such a brutal assessment of how women treat each other.  No one would come forward -- despite knowing the truth -- because they were too concerned with their retaining their positions of power.  Cause we can't help each other.  We feel that "well, I got there, and I survived it, so that's just the way it is."  There were so many opportunities for the women to help Robbie's character and no one did.  It was all too real.  We drown ourselves in internal misogyny, so determined to be taken as seriously as a man that we will hurt other women in the process.  (Also: this is just my read; this is not an invitation to dog pile on.)

 

The movie did a great job creating a toxic environment.    

Funnily enough my mom also said something along the lines of "are we sure that wasn't the real Megyn Kelly?" on the way out. But yeah, Theron is crazy good here at pulling off a complete transformation. Wouldn't quite say it's her best work but it's definitely top three at least.

 

And that's actually a pretty good take on this movie. It's a bit too by-the-numbers in its presentation for me to call it great or anything but I thought Jay Roach's straightforward approach to showing the damage that Ailes had done worked (as opposed to what, say, Adam McKay would've done with this material - feel like his version of this would've really gone after Fox News and Trump via his interactions with Kelly to remind us of how terrible they are, even though we all already know that, on a constant basis).

 

Arguably the most squirm-inducing scene in the whole movie is Robbie and Lithgow in his office. That was more unsettling than anything from this year's horror movies.

[Webslinger]

Much like the political films he directed for HBO, Jay Roach’s take on the sexual harassment scandal that broke at Fox News in Bombshell is an intriguing glimpse into a painful but all-too-relevant piece of recent history. The ensemble cast, in top form across the board, carries the film with their powerful performances that elevate a script which – while sufficiently strong overall – doesn’t always seem like it’s engaging with the nuances of its subject as thoroughly as it could. Much has already been said of the resemblance Charlize Theron bears to Megyn Kelly, but Theron’s work here runs much deeper than just a similar appearance. Theron is wholly convincing as a driven individual who has difficulty reconciling her ambition with the mistreatment she faces. She cleverly captures her character’s cynicism about the nature of the beast she works in and her realization that enough is enough. Nicole Kidman is also effective as Gretchen Carlson, showing the mental and emotional toll that years of sexual harassment have taken on her character with subtlety rather than histrionics. The big standout, however, is Margot Robbie as a fictional merging of several women who worked at the network. Perhaps it’s the fact that Robbie’s character – being fictional – does not encounter the thorny baggage that accompanied Kelly and Carlson as individuals who willingly perpetuated their network’s odious ideology (a point this film doesn’t really engage with, which I suppose is understandable given that it’s more about standing up for *all* women who have been wronged than an examination of the harm done by Fox News), but her story registers the most forcefully and Robbie captures her naïveté and her horror at her treatment in raw, heartbreaking fashion. Kate McKinnon also gets some great scenes in an all-too-brief role as a closeted liberal and closeted lesbian working at the network (I almost wish we could just have a separate movie about Robbie and McKinnon – they’re that good in their roles together) and John Lithgow rises to the challenge of crafting a repugnant Roger Ailes who believes with utter conviction that he is entitled to get whatever he wants from the women at his disposal and should never have to face any sort of reckoning for it. It’s true that this film doesn’t really engage with what it’s female figureheads have said on their platforms (some lip service is paid, but that’s about it), but I think this film is arguing – and arguing effectively – that their viewpoints and their refusal to engage with how those viewpoints are harmful for others do not preclude them from being deserving of decent treatment or getting justice when they’re wronged on a deeply intimate level.

 

B+

 

Stray Thoughts:

- As one of the five people who actually watched The Loudest Voice this summer, I liked this film better than the show. It's more focused and succinct, and the fact that we get lengthy breaks from Ailes in this film definitely helps. Russell Crowe was great as Ailes in the show, but the man and everything he stood for stoke my anger so easily that getting through an hour at a time was an endurance trial despite the strength of Crowe's performance. Luckily, Roach gets that a little of Lithgow's scary work as Ailes goes a long way.

 

- Yeah, filmlover nailed it on that scene. I looked away from the screen for most of it and couldn't wait for it to be over.

 

- And likewise, Cap nailed it on the take on this film's implications about internalized misogyny. Personal circumstances that I shan't disclose here have led me to think a ton about internalized bigotry and self-preservation, and I think this film is attuned to the idea that people will go against their own self-interest in the name of getting ahead and not necessarily realize the damage they're doing to themselves and others in a similar position in the process. Those ideas manifest in the cynicism of Kate McKinnon's character (who figures there's plenty of awful stuff happening there, but feels powerless to do anything about it), and I've been there in feeling that same level of cynicism.

[lorddemaxus]

This movie was mostly garbage. It's not critical enough and it's not clever enough to actually work. The script tries hard to be a McKay film at times but fails because Roach is such a bland director. Almost the entirety movie is political posturing and filled with useless exposition and try-haed quirky scenes that don't work at all. The movie tries to be an empowering feminist tale but it comes off as pretty unsatisfying because Kelly and Carlson were shown as heroes when they really aren't (reminds me of that terrible Margaret Thatcher movie starring Meryl Streep). This could have easily been a great and complex film but it decides to take an extremely shallow and narrow point of view that's just boring to watch. 

 

Margot Robbie stole the show though and Theron was great. McKinnon as a fake right-winger who was actually a lesbian dem was hilarious too. 4/10