Bombshell: Stylish Fact-Based Drama on Fall of Fox Honcho Seems Muted Post #MeToo
By Kim Hughes
Rating: B+
Though highly watchable, there is something curiously unsatisfying about Bombshell, the lightly fictionalized story of the fall of Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman, onetime political fixer, and textbook workplace predator as his accusers united to make public his abusive behaviour.
Maybe it’s just too soon after the real event and subsequent documentary, Divide and Conquer: The Story of Roger Ailes. Or maybe it’s because the actual story of Ailes’ downfall, and the entire #MeToo movement which toppled a litany of seemingly untouchable powerhouses from Harvey Weinstein to Matt Lauer — while sparking an honest-to-goodness paradigm shift — is simply more mind-blowing than John Lithgow in a fat suit.
Bombshell certainly doesn’t explore the causes and lasting effects of workplace sexual harassment or the systemically unbalanced power dynamics that make such things possible. It does offer some very engaging, stylish performances, though, and in that sense perhaps the movie accurately mirrors the environment it seeks to depict.
The key draw is Nicole Kidman and Charlize Theron as real-life Fox journalists and anchors Gretchen Carlson and Megyn Kelly, both brilliant, gorgeous, committed and deep in the crosshairs of Ailes as they seek to rise at a network dedicated to giving the right-wing a voice, providing it is parroted by someone wearing a short skirt. Indeed, the dive into the inner workings of Fox is one of the more interesting aspects of the film.
It’s 2016 and the lead-up to the American presidential election. Fox is uniquely positioned to ride the Trump wave, making the atmosphere at once charged and slightly deranged. Carlson, aging out of the desired on-air demographic, is first sidelined and then fired despite her experience. Disgusted, disgruntled, and so over the sexist office bullshit, she begins the process of outing Ailes for his abominable behaviour.
Kelly, meanwhile, is at her zenith at the network but, like all female Fox staffers, knows the well is hopelessly poisoned for those hoping to follow in her stilettos. Does success confer the responsibility to clean house? Yes, actually it does. So begins the process of identifying and recruiting fellow whistleblowers as Carlson’s legal case against Ailes presses forward.
Carlson emerges as the film’s conscience, the hard-charging game-changer willing to risk everything to right a terrible wrong. Kelly is our tour guide, initially breaking the fourth wall to walk us through Fox’s New York HQ where the power is compartmentalized on various floors. Her character quickly falls into line behind Carlson as the determined but ethically torn star who is at once grateful to Ailes for the career break but revolted by his backstage comportment.
Less clear is the role of Margot Robbie’s Kayla, a self-described evangelical millennial (and fictionalized character) who serves as catcher for the worst of Ailes’ behaviour but who fails to elevate the story in a meaningful way, apart from giving Kate McKinnon’s closeted Democrat, lesbian Fox producer solid set-ups for her lines.
Further diluting the film’s impact is actual — and by now widely seen — footage of the real Ailes teeing up Richard Nixon while establishing himself as the chief puppeteer behind the contemporary American Republican party. Which is not to detract from Lithgow, who conjures Ailes with all the creepy bluster you’d imagine. But it feels curiously flat in the context of this highly schematic film.
Excellent, albeit in smaller parts, is Malcolm McDowell as Rupert Murdoch (a suit-wearing human eel if ever there was one, which McDowell nails), Allison Janney as Ailes’ exasperated lawyer Susan Estrich, and Connie Britton as Ailes’ devoted and presumably long-suffering wife. And was she long-suffering or wilfully blind? This would have been well-worth exploring in a sidebar narrative, especially with Britton in the role.
There was also room to explore the views of Murdoch scions Lachlan and James whose relative distance from Ailes (well, relative compared to their father) possibly imbued them with a more nuanced perspective.
All of which is to say that Bombshell is recommended; it’s a fun watch, often surprisingly funny, and snappily directed by Jay Roach (Trumbo, Dinner for Schmucks). Plus, it’s always entertaining to see actors summon well-known real people in a persuasive way. But given what it is and the climate it’s arriving into, it could have been so much more.
Bombshell. Directed by Jay Roach. Starring Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, John Lithgow, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Malcolm McDowell and Allison Janney. Opens wide December 20.