Film Review - Bombshell (15)

Someone has to speak up. Someone has to get mad.

Over a year before the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations hit America's headlines, the Fox News network was rocked by a similar and equivalently huge scandal. Roger Ailes, the so-called 'father of Fox News' was accused of decades' worth of sexual misconduct in the workplace. What made the story more potent was the irony - and yet near inevitability - of its coming to light in a bastion of right-wing, anti-feminist conservatism. This early battle in what would become #metoo was fought in the most unlikely setting and not by the card-carrying social justice warriors you'd expect. It's an intriguing story, and one that makes for an engrossingly topical film drama.

Charlize Theron plays Megyn Kelly, Fox News anchor whose testimony would become crucial in the Ailes case. As the crisis brews, she's already in a bind at Fox, having challenged Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump in interview on his misogynistic language, thus flying in the face of the network's pro-Trump stance. Meanwhile ex-Fox presenter Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) is biding her time before fighting back legally, having been released from the company on what she knows are spurious grounds. And at the other end of the professional conveyer belt is Kayla (Margot Robbie), an ambitious newsroom ingenue having a rude introduction to the rules of this male-driven environment. If these women could only find some way to work together and alter the status quo...

Bombshell is one of those essential 'films for our time' and I love its combative urgency, particularly its intercutting of real and recent news footage with the actors' performances. When a 'real-life' movie weaves in controversial moments of the man currently serving as US President, ones that chime alarmingly with its central theme of institutionalised sexism, you know it means business. The screenplay comes from The Big Short's co-writer Charles Randolph and has some of that script's wit, even if it doesn't achieve the razor-sharpness of a Vice or of anything by Aaron Sorkin. It's adequately feisty and satirical and directed with a brisk sense of purpose by Jay Roach - flashy at points, but not to the degree that the performances are ever undercut.

And what performances they are. Kidman, fresh from her Big Little Lies triumph, has steely composure as the screwed-over and determined Carlson. She makes great use of limited screen time to establish the movie's lawsuited framework. Taking centre-stage is Theron, proving - again - as Kelly what a commanding presence and master of fine detail she is. No cheap impersonation, her performance goes deep (along with her voice) as the complex career woman on the horns of a very human dilemma. Robbie is radically different - both from the others and from any character we've seen her play before - as Kayla a 'composite' of all the young woman on whom Ailes visited his unwelcome attentions. An instantly likeable and earnest spokeswoman for Fox News as a conservative platform, she's also painfully vulnerable - especially in one cringing scene of her boss's predatory interest.

The cast is fleshed out in style too, including by a John Lithgow as the plausibly monstrous Ailes. (He's particularly fleshy, in the most convincing fat prosthetic I've ever seen on screen - thankfully no impediment to a great performance.) Kate McKinnon plays it straighter than usual as a secret liberal-in-the-fold and Alison Janney is the fiercely pragmatic lawyer Susan Estrich. But perhaps my favourite supporting player is the quirkily dynamic score by Theodore Shapiro. Spiked with intoxicating female vocals it adds a distinctly feminine, as the anti-Ailes resistance gains momentum, rendering certain key scenes irresistible.

Only two years on from the genesis of #metoo and its Hollywood partner #timesup, Roach's film is one that didn't wait around to get made. The pressing nature of its subject is reflected in a pacy and compelling piece of storytelling that benefits much from its central trio. Liberals will question the degree of heroism with which controversial figures like Kelly are portrayed, but there's an undeniable dramatic satisfaction in seeing these pillars of the right-wing media establishment strike a blow for women's rights. Bombshell has legitimately been described as the first #metoo movie and thankfully it's a good one. With monumental events unfolding within US politics by the day and the liberal-conservative culture war becoming ever more entrenched, just don't expect it to be the last. There are further combustive revelations of this kind to be portrayed on screen.

Gut Reaction: Rapt attention, a lot of 'look who's playing who' and occasional queasiness at some truly repugnant behaviour.

Memorable Moment: Elevator music.

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. While the script isn't always on point, the Kidman/Theron/Robbie combo provide enough charge to make this explode off the screen. Bombshell lives up to its punning title in every sense.