Walking into Bombshell you think you have an idea of what you are going to get, but the truth hits harder. The film follows Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. Margot Robbie portrays fictional Kayla Pospisil, a woman who does not exactly exist in real life, but rather is based on 20 real Fox News staffers.
These three women are at entirely different points in their careers. Gretchen Carlson recognizes she is on the way out after she was moved from her coveted morning show role into an afternoon dead time. Megyn Kelly makes headlines for her infamous moderation of the republican debate, not in the way she anticipated. Megyn says, “Call me stupid, but I thought he would respect that challenge.” Newcomer Kayla is at the bottom, naive and ambitious, which seem to be the characteristics powerful men like Roger Ailes look for.
The film walks through what the building Fox was in looked like, different floors, different focuses. “Feminist” seems to be a dirty word at Fox, and harassment seems to be so casual and routine that people no longer recognize it as harassment. A montage is shown of a plethora of comments Gretchen receives about her appearance.
The timeline is written out in the film which makes it all the more real, where were you during this convention? Where were you when news anchors were attacked on and off screen? The film shows photos and videos of the actual women, sharing their actual experiences. Similar, repetitive stories that were never stopped. The women may have changed, but the sexual harassment didn’t, spanning decades.
Moviegoer Kelly reflects, “it’s a sad environment to work in. When this was happening over the past few years I feel like I was only given bits and pieces of the story, now to see it all playing out… I hope things have changed. It’s just so sad to people like his receptionist who knew, and did nothing.”
The plot is sad, but also anger inducing. The cast from top to bottom does a phenomenal job with the important story to tell.
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Genre: Biography, Drama
Run Time: 1 hour and 48 minutes
Directors: Jay Roach
Actors: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie
Rating: Rated R for for sexual material and language throughout.
Fun Fact: The film includes three Oscar winners: Allison Janney, Nicole Kidman, and Charlize Theron; and two Oscar nominees: John Lithgow and Margot Robbie.
