Bombshell is a biographical drama directed by Jay Roach and written by Charles Randolph. The film tells the story of Roger Ailes’ sexual harassment affairs during his reign at Fox News and the cover-up that eventually forced him to step down.
A tenacious Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) is the head of Fox News, the primary televised source of conservative politics. He runs the corporation with an iron fist that includes fear and determination. Roger is seen as an icon and only answers to Rupert Murdoch (Malcolm McDowell), who is CEO of the Fox network. The stories of Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), and Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), who are three political anchorwomen employed at Fox are revealed in Bombshell.
Megyn Kelly is one of the most popular anchors/commentators at Fox and is preparing to co-moderate the 2016 Republican debate. On the day of the debate, Megyn becomes sick and throws up, but nevertheless questions Donald Trump on negative comments he made about women. In retaliation, Trump sends out several tweets hurting her reputation. As a result, Megyn is further ridiculed by reporters and others. One reporter sneaks into Meg and Doug’s home in order to take pictures of their daughter causing her husband, Douglas Brunt (Mark Duplass) to kick him out by force. When Megyn returns to work, Fox hires a security detail to protect her but refuses to go after Trump. Roger, who is a fan of Megyn, becomes paranoid with protecting her and thinks that someone poisoned her the day of the debate.
Meanwhile, Gretchen Carlson is the co-anchor of the popular program “Fox and Friends”, but is taken off and demoted to a less popular show and position. Often Gretchen faces sexist comments by others, on and off the air. Gretchen decides to escalate her situation by hiring legal representation. The lawyers mention that Gretchen should not engage with these newfound enemies then tells her the story of Rudi Bakhtiar who was fired for coming out against her employer who she accused of sexual harassment. The lawyers explain their plan to file a harassment suit against Roger Ailes personally and inform Gretchen that she will need to have other women come out and tell their story.
Kayla Pospisil is the newest hire at Fox, a young conservative from a religious background. She starts off working for Gretchen but is soon offered a position to work for “The O’Reilly Factor”. Gretchen asks Kayla to stay with her and warns her to be careful, but she refuses and questions why she shouldn’t take the job. On her first day, Bill O’Reilly (Kevin Dorff) yells at her and she is consoled by a coworker, Jess Carr (Kate McKinnon). Jess becomes a good friend while Kayla’s situation becomes pretty ugly at Fox.
I thought Bombshell was well laid out, conveying to the audience how one of the biggest sex preditors was caught with his pecker in the mouth of babes. I think the movie was well-acted and the make-up was phenomenal. It seems Trump got away with a lot more than just the Iranian crisis. I’m glad women are coming out and stopping these preditors. The film received generally favorable reviews, with critics praising the performances of the cast, particularly (Theron, Kidman, Robbie and Lithgow) however they criticized the screenplay and inaccuracies in the storytelling. The film received two nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards for Theron and Robbie, four at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards for Theron, Robbie and Kidman, as well as Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture and three at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards. I really liked Bombshell, Check It Out!
CAROL's WORLDS 