Bombshell

Based on true events, Bombshell follows several Fox News employees, including Nicole Kidman’s Gretchen Carlson, Charlize Theron’s Megyn Kelly, and Margot Robbie’s Kayla Pospisil, as they set out to expose head honcho Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) for sexual harassment. Filmmaker Jay Roach, working from Charles Randolph’s screenplay, delivers a fast-paced and thoroughly irreverent drama that grows less and less interesting as time progresses, unfortunately, as Bombshell, which is admittedly rife with compelling tidbits and factoids, suffers from a lack of a concrete throughline that slowly-but-surely makes it difficult to work up any interest in or sympathy for the protagonists’ exploits – with the arms-length feel heightened and perpetuated by the always-distracting makeup employed to transform the various performers into their real-life counterparts. (This is especially problematic in the case of Kidman and her ridiculous chin.) It’s interesting to note, ultimately, that the most engrossing stretch within Bombshell involves interviews with real-life harassment victims, as the movie is otherwise far too slick and polished to entirely (or even partially) make much of a positive impact – which is a shame, certainly, given the inherent potential contained within its true-life subject matter.

** out of ****

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