Movie Reaction: Bombshell

Formula: 9 to 5 ^ The Big Short

I have trouble with movies like Bombshell. When making a movie about a true story, especially when it's about public figures, there needs to be some distance. Audiences need time to forget. And, on a production level, distance gives the filmmakers more freedom to make changes that make the story more narrative. If I you say we ate  sandwiches for lunch yesterday, I'll know to correct you and say it was pizza. If you say we ate sandwiches for lunch 10 years ago, I won't care. In both cases, the actual story you are telling is about that time some guy threw his shoes at someone for taking to long at the soda fountain, but it the version from yesterday, I'll be too busy thinking about the sandwich detail to appreciate anything else. The events of Bombshell happened during the Donald Trump presidential campaign. He's still in his first term. Most of the people who worked at Fox News at the time still work there (I think. I'm not researching that). That's too soon. It's the same problem I had with W. or The Social Network. It only didn't bother me much with The Report because I'm a Luddite who doesn't follow the news enough to know much about that report. Besides, that movie is literally about how it was a guy working in a hole in a CIA basement so no one knew what he was doing.

On a technical level, the movie is well made. Charlize Theron mimics Megyn Kelly eerily well. Nicole Kidman does a nice Gretchen Carlson. Margot Robbie, playing an amalgam of several Fox News staffers, gives the best performance, even though I'd argue she's the clear third best actress in that cast. This shouldn't be a surprise. Since she isn't playing a real person, one who can object to a portrayal, she gets the freedom to make a lot more acting choices. Jon Lithgow is a sufficiently slimy Roger Ailes. The cast is loaded with famous cameos. Richard Kind has an interesting take on Rudy Giuliani. Connie Britton is solid as Ailes' "good wife". No surprise, Kate McKinnon is excellent as a Bill O'Reilly staffer, also afforded the freedom of playing an original character.

Some distance from the event would also be nice, because this is a complex topic. It's about sexual harassment at Fox News. That's a topic that has Hollywood virtually foaming at the mouth. There's a constant pull back and forth in the movie about how much they should or get to villainize things. Director Jay Roach and writer Charles Randolph can never figure out how much sympathy the three women deserve. It's taken as a matter of fact in the movie that Fox News is a disgusting place. Even when one of the people working there explains why they work there, it ranges from naive to cynical. But really, this is a movie about sexual abuse in the workplace. The nature of the work is almost secondary. It should feel victorious when the women take the abuser down at the end. But, there's so much contempt for even the victims, that it's almost a story without a climax.

I wish I was allowed to give this movie an "incomplete". It's way too recent for this production team to make sense out of the topic. I'd accept this kind of rapid reaction from the HBO TV-Movies that Jay Roach is famous for (Game Change, Recount). As is, this movie has the same trouble understanding the meaning of "fair and balanced" that they attack Fox New for having. It's a movie that's too afraid to take a stand on anything because it knows the audience will fact check them.

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend