Sometimes you just want to watch a human wasteland get his. I would argue Roger Ailes has done more than most to undermine American Democracy than almost anyone in modern American History. And as personal icing on his cake, he got to use his power to take advantage of countless powerless women along the way. Bombshell is about those women taking the fight to Roger the Hutt, and the chain of events that led to his ousting at Fox News. It’s not complex. It’s not all that compelling, but it is pretty satisfying.
For those who don’t know, Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) created and ran Fox News with the support of his friend Rupert Murdoch, giving a voice to all Conservative members of society, but especially the conspiratorial ones. Populating leadership with men, Ailes ran the network like his own private club, making women who worked for him only wear dresses that show off their hot legs and “prove their loyalty” to him to get ahead, or they are shown the door. Bombshell shows three generations of these women who had enough and came forward from within. Kayla (Margot Robbie) is the latest blond hottie to catch the human sludge’s eye. Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) became so fed up with the toxic culture she took notes and recorded every interaction before she decided to quit and sue Ailes, guaranteeing herself a payout since no one would EVER hire her again (Ailes would make sure of that). And in the middle is the network’s most popular female anchor, Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), who is unsure what to do because of her position, but the Trump campaign’s vicious assaults on her with no Fox response makes her reconsider her silence, despite pressure from within to defend Ailes.
Movies around Oscar time tend to be character driven morally gray studies of the human condition. Bombshell is more of a horror movie, having a female protagonist eliminate a monster. With one grotesque cringe inducing scene the audience is clear in no uncertain terms that Ailes is the devil. Jay Roach keeps this story simple, focusing on the mechanics of Roger Ailes abuse of power and how Carlson, Kelly, and Kayla had to maneuver around it to bring him down. In the movie’s scenario, Kayla is our put upon victim, used and abused, tainting her opinion of the network her family calls “church.” After her “loyalty proof” she spends the movie helpless and in despair, waiting for a hero. The hero here, which will rub uber liberals the wrong way, is Gretchen Carlson. I would encourage those liberals to look past her complicity in Fox News to think about how smart, prepared, cool, and collected she is facing off against Ailes. As someone who’s sick of hearing about how women can be “too emotional to make good decisions” it’s refreshing to watch Ailes go paranoid and vindictive trying to take her down, and watch Gretchen Carlson calmly go through the legal process and undermine Jabba at every turn with clever thinking and planning.
And for those looking for the Oscariness of Bombshell, there’s Megyn Kelly. First off, Charlize Theron not only nails Kelly’s look, but her voice as well. Almost too well, as you’ll probably spend the movie like me saying, “I can’t believe that’s not Megyn Kelly. How did Charlize pull that off?” Kelly isn’t exactly willing to help at the start, only pulled in because the Trump debate fiasco left her out to dry by Fox. After hearing about Gretchen Carlson’s plan, Kelly spends days in the hornet’s nest, trying to figure out if she wants to come forward with her past issues with Roger or not. Theron sells the hell out of how tough this must have been for Kelly, knowing she’d be probably ending her Fox career and potentially her career in the spotlight which she wanted sooo badly. It all snaps into focus for Kelly when she talks to Kayla; Margot Robbie and Charlize Theron play that scene with an underwritten intensity that basically hammers home the themes of the movie, and clearly pushes Megyn Kelly to come forward, sacrificing her public standing for the greater good. And seriously, Charlize? How much Megyn Kelly did you watch, cause you nailed it!
Down goes Ailes! Down goes Ailes! That slimy piece of sh*t. Bombshell doesn’t pick any bones with anyone but that human demon of a toxic male. I doubt this movie will have a lot of award success, but I do think it might inspire a few women to be brave, say #MeToo, and nevertheless persist. It will also make conspiracy theorists watch the movie closely to see if Megyn Kelly was actually in the movie, because there’s no way Charlize could be THAT good.