Bombshell
Roger Eugene Ailes (1940 – 2017) was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television, and he
was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, and for Rudy Giuliani’s first mayoral campaign.
In July 2016, he resigned from Fox News after being accused of sexual harassment by several female Fox employees, including on-air hosts Gretchen Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Andrea Tantaros. Shortly afterward, he became an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, in which he assisted with debate preparation.
Bombshell focuses not only on the sexual harassment scandals that swirled around Ailes for decades, but also his downfall and departure from Fox News. The film’s story focuses mainly on Megan Kelly, and the experiences which ultimately led her to tell the world her story of workplace sexual harassment and abuse.
This is a good movie, and features Charlize Theron as Megan Kelly, Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, and. John Lithgow as Roger Ailes.
Nicole Kidman is one of Australia’s biggest Hollywood success stories. An incredibly accomplished actress and producer, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of writer Virginia Woolf in the drama film The Hours (2002). She received additional Academy Award nominations for her roles in the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Being the Ricardos (2021).
Charlize Theron is a South African and American actress and producer, who received an Academy Award for her role in Monster (2003), a nomination for her role as a sexually abused woman seeking justice in North Country (2005) and a third nomination for her role in Bombshell.
John Lithgow is an American actor who has been prolific in films, television and on stage. He is best known for his television role as Dick Solomon in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996–2001) winning three Primetime Emmy Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance. Lithgow also won great acclaim for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Peter Morgan’s historical drama The Crown (2016–2019) on Netflix. On screen he received Academy Award nominations for his performances in The World According to Garp (1982) and Terms of Endearment (1983).
Director Jay Roach, probably best known for directing all of the Austin Powers movies, and the wonderful bio-pic Trumbo, a film of very high quality indeed.
While Bombshell is technically excellent, I have a tremendous amount of difficulty recommending it. The film presents Megyn Kelly as a hero, but I have great difficulty sympathizing with her. This is
a person who has spent decades acting as a mouthpiece for the American right, who has made a career out of putting forward extremely xenophobic ideas and has arguably made the United States worse during her tenure at Fox news. What happened to her was terrible, yes, but that does not change the fact that my politics get in the way of an empathic response to her. I sincerely wish that this film had centered around a fictional woman at a fictional news organization, it would have made things much easier for me.
However, not everyone shares my social democratic values, and if you really do want to watch this finely crafted film, it is currently on Netflix for all the world to see.
One and a half thumbs up.