"Bombshell"
- Who: Directed by Jay Roach; tarring Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, John Lithgow, Rob Delaney, Malcolm McDowell and Kate McKinnon
- Rated: R
- Running time: 108 minutes
- When: Opens Friday, Dec. 20
- Where: Area theaters
- Grade: A
While all eyes are on a galaxy far, far from home, Bombshell is terrific movie that is ripped from the headlines and as thrilling as it is relevant today.
Long before the #metoo movement was born television journalists Megan Kelly and Gretchen Carlson stood up to one of the most powerful and feared men in network news: Fox chairman Roger Ailes.
Ailes was an unrepentant sexual predator of the first order. It took extraordinary courage for these women to risk their careers and livelihoods and face down their boss publicly and call him out on his crimes.
Charlize Theron gives a great performance as Kelly, just as Nicole Kidman is believable as Carlson. Margot Robbie plays a composite character, Kayla, who represents all the young network women who were preyed upon by Ailes as they had no leverage to fight back.
Watch the "Bombshell" movie trailer below.
Kelly and Carlson had the names and means to fend for themselves. Carlson left the network first, acquired legal counsel and wrote a book. Kelly held out longer and when the two combined forces they proved brave enough and credible enough to bring Ailes down which was unthinkable at the time.
John Lithgow as a Ailes is a real-life Darth Vader of a boss when it comes to women employees. Bombshell came together as a movie project just after Ailes died in 2017.
The movie is an office drama where all the bad stuff happens on the second floor where Ailes has his office. Holland Taylor plays Ailes secretary who is half enabler and half sympathetic sister to the young blonde woman who are summoned to his creepy lair.
What comes across so powerfully in the film is that it never crosses Ailes sick mind that this activity will ever be dragged into the light of day and be condemned by society as a whole. He’s been at it so long this is business-as-usual and he’s baffled by the rebellion of his two star employees.
It all makes for an exciting, riveting drama that plays off real life events. Anyone familiar with the situation will know the outcome, but it’s a testament to the writing and acting that this story still registers as a thriller at times as well as a modern day cautionary tale.
P.S. Malcolm McDowell is a hoot as Rupert Murdoch and whoever plays Geraldo Rivera, (an uncredited role) in a drive-by appearance just puts the cherry on the cinematic sundae.
