
Let’s just say it: the way news is delivered today is totally different then when I was a child. The Internet gives almost real-time updates from anywhere in the world, and with twenty-four hours cable news networks, there is no story that gets left unreported. Unfortunately, there are news channels that get criticism due to their political affiliations, with one of the biggest of these being Fox News. The story of the turmoil they have been through in recent years is the subject of “Bombshell”.
Directed by Jay Roach (The Campaign), there is an all-star cast here that includes Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Kate McKinnon, and John Lithgow. Looking at the happenings at Fox News in 2016, the story focuses on female anchors Megyn Kelly (Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Kidman), associate producer Kayla Pospisil (Robbie, whose character is being called a combination of a number of other people and not based on one single person). Carlson was fired from the network and then sued head honcho Roger Ailes (Lithgow) for sexual harassment. Kelly later left the network when she backed up the claims made by Carlson, and as multiple allegations made against Ailes stack up, the network and its “good old boys” environment try to cover it up as more and more comes to light.
“Bombshell” mostly takes place in the Fox News headquarters in New York, and it was very accurate from the studios to the cubical work stations for the reporters. The story itself reminded me a lot of films like “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and “The Big Short,” with Theron and Kidman breaking the fourth wall to help fill in some of the gaps along with doing a kind of guided tour for the audience to help reinforce how things work. At about two hours long, the film kept me interested even though I already knew what happened.
Kidman and Robbie do well, even though Kidman didn’t fully sell me on her role as Carlson through the film. However, Robbie does a good job as the vulnerable new employee who feels she can only get ahead of she gives Ailes “what he wants in return”. Lithgow is always goo, and does not disappoint playing the ruthless news man who is losing his battle with Father Time, but the real shout-out here goes to Charlize Theron, whose Megyn Kelly completely sold me. Her performance is spot-on, and she deserves award consideration for sure! next year! No matter what side of the political spectrum you fall on, I would recommend this film even though one side may take it as the other side’s way of trying to make them look bad, but go ahead and see it at a twilight showing.