SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
Despite winning performances from its talented main cast, Bombshell is held back by a frustrating reluctance to go beyond a surface-level retelling of events.
Fox News: loved by a conservative America and hated by a liberal America, its central role in our ongoing debate over how money, media and politics should intersect is undeniable. The news network’s grasp on American conservatives was one of many instrumental factors in Donald Trump taking the presidency. Even people who dislike politics can see how the story of the downfall of its former CEO Roger Ailes is ripe for the telling. In a time where workplace sexual harassment is one of the big issues of the day, to make a film is an opportunity to say something incisive and to contribute a fresh, new perspective to this debate. The most frustrating thing about Bombshell is that it doesn’t do that, even despite the efforts of its cast and crew.
First, the story for the unfamiliar. Ailes, hired by the Murdochs to run Fox News, was eventually brought down by the combined efforts of the 22 women who stepped forward to speak about his rampant sexual harassment. Ailes’ downfall was just one of many events that sparked the emergence of the global MeToo movement amongst others. For a cinema audience, there’s also no ignoring the vital context provided by the chaos of the 2016 presidential election. Barely four years on, its subject matter is far more than recent history. It’s current events; the trial of Harvey Weinstein, who faces similar allegations, has only just concluded. Bombshell could have been one of the timeliest films Hollywood ever produced.
But the movie lacks the sharp focus needed, with a simple, by-the-numbers retelling of events as they unfolded. Its lack of nuance is indicative of a film that settles for a surface-level exploration rather than going for a hard-hitting deep dive. Instead of a piece of searing analysis worthy of a big-name broadsheet newspaper, Bombshell comes across more like a tabloid exposé reliant on the impulse emotions of a lower common denominator. It’s centred on its three leading women as it rightly should be, but brings nothing new or incisive to the table when it comes to contributing to this wider debate. Rather than analysis, it offers documentation; the events it depicts have now been successfully dramatized for dissection by historians of the future seeking secondary sources. Claiming Fox News is a toxic, misogynist work environment is hardly novel, but had it sought the nuance inherent in that information, this film might have been able to say a lot more about it.
That there’s anything worth watching at all is due to the highly capable cast. John Lithgow’s portrayal of Ailes is subtly brilliant; like his employees, we come to despise and fear this powerful and grotesque old man. The women depicted in Bombshell came together for a roundtable discussion at the behest of former Fox News host Megyn Kelly in which they opined that Bombshell had actually let Ailes off quite lightly. That in itself is horrifying, given the incredible discomfort Lithgow’s character already causes. Charlize Theron leads the formidable trio of central characters, becoming practically indistinguishable from Kelly herself by copying both voice and mannerisms to create an extraordinary likeness. Margot Robbie also shines as the new girl Kayla, a fictional composite character created from numerous other women who stepped forward to speak out against Ailes. While her character is inferior in position to Theron’s Kelly and Nicole Kidman’s Gretchen Carlson, Robbie ensures that her performance is very much on par. Kazu Hiro, whose accomplished make-up, prosthetic and hairstyling work transformed Gary Oldman into Winston Churchill for the critically acclaimed Darkest Hour, also deserves credit here. His first-rate work on Bombshell only complements the cast in their efforts to become Fox’s former employees, transforming them into characters almost indistinguishable from their real-life counterparts.
It’s a shame then that this film really doesn’t do justice to the bravery and willpower of these women. While it never really forgets that it’s talking about something important, it seems unable to tread on new ground and deliver anything fresh. It’s capably acted and styled, but the lack of anything other than a surface-level exploration of the events it depicts means Bombshell is ultimately incapable of living up to its namesake.
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