Bombshell - A review

“Bombshell” (2019)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51t-y1nHDT8 Cast: Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie Bombshell recreates the events of 2015-2016 at Fox News during the 2016 election. The story focuses on Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly, played (eerily, almost like a twin) by Charlize Theron, who also acts as the narrator of the tale. A subsequent story is the story of Gretchen Carlson, played by Nicole Kidman, a veteran news anchor who broke ground as one of the first female anchors fighting for space in the ‘Boys Club’ of Fox News. Both storylines are pulled from the news stories and ‘tweets’ of the day. The third tale focuses on Kayla, an ambitious, yet naive reporter seeking a spot as an on-air anchor. Kayla is a fictional character, however, her story is painfully true-to-life. The main villain in this true tale is Roger Ailes, the head television executive at the helm of Fox News, who has ties going back decades to the republican party. Megyn in her opening soliloquy goes so far as to say his hand has guided elections of Regan, Nixon, and many more. Roger is the self-proclaimed captain of the ship. Roger, played by John Lithgow, is one of the most powerful men in media, but also... a disgusting sexual predator. Things dust-up at the studios when two events happen simultaneously. Megyn, as star anchor, is tapped to be the presidential debate monitor, and someone mysteriously drugs Megyn’s coffee causing her to vomit. She pulls herself together and manages to throw some hardball questions at Trump. Trump later retaliates with a tweetstorm. At the same time Gretchen is getting tired of being called a “Skirt” on camera by the male anchors and being told that she is ‘sexy but too hard to work with’. She may be a former Miss America, but she is no fainting flower and tries fighting back. It fails and she is fired. She sues Roger for wrongful termination due to sexual harassment, and it gets kinda crazy from there. My favorite scene is of the other female anchors defending Roger Ailes in this wild chorus of women in 3-inch heels and tight shift dresses shouting into their phones ‘I wear pants! I wear pants! I can wear whatever I want!’ It is something you have to see. The last and most difficult tale to watch is Kayla’s story. She is so focused on her goal to be on air at the only network that matters, that she sadly falls victim to Roger’s sick manipulation. Margot Robbie plays her with a combination of ultra motivated, and sweet naivete. It is unnerving to watch. When she meets Roger in his private office, it’s like being on a razor’s edge, hoping she will walk out the door away from the slime, but she never does. When he asks to see her legs and then more, we see her fight back tears and can almost feel her violation. (shudder) All in all, for a lot of ladies who keep repeating the mantra “I’m not a feminist” like feminist is a dirty word, they do end up battling with the issues of equality for women and sexual harassment in the workplace. Megyn says more than once “ I’m not a feminist”. Yet her actions betray her. Despite her best attempts to ignore the misogyny around her, we come to conclude that she (gasp) just may be a feminist. At the very least, she’s someone who is fighting for equal rights of women in the workplace (um...feminist?) and wants sexual harassment of women to stop (cough - feminist!).