The Me Too movement gets The Big Short treatment in Bombshell;
a film which manages the difficult feat of raising an important subject while at
the same time not giving it the attention it deserves.
The two films share a scriptwriter in Charles
Randolph who in The Big Short (2015) gave us a Coles Notes version of the
financial crash and in Bombshell does the same for the pre-Weinstein era. It
covers a lot of ground but possibly at too much of a gallop.
The subject is Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) the head
of Fox News who ran a years-long regime based on bullying, intimidation and
sexual predation. The exemplar here is Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie), a
composite fictional character used to illustrate his worst excesses in some
truly cringe-making moments. Eventually Ailes was undone by two of his real-life
on-air stars Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) and Gretchen Carlson (Nicole
Kidman).
The performances throughout are excellent, even if
Theron and Kidman have to act behind a lot of latex. There is no denying the
bravery of Kelly and Carlson, or the humiliation that the women who Robbie’s
character is based on. But at the same time it feels like this is all done in a
bit of a rush. The story feels breathless and a little superficial. There are
times when it could engage with the material a little more.
Bombshell
gives the impression that it was all down to the toad-like Ailes but fish
stinks from the head. He created a culture of malice and toxicity over decades.
There are others who were involved who get a free pass in this film because, I suspect,
it wants to tell a story without attracting too much attention from my learned
friends. Ailes is dead now so he’s not going to sue but you can’t be sure about
the others.
The story is told much better in the HBO
miniseries The Loudest Voice (2019) which
puts Ailes – played superbly by Russel Crowe – into context and, thanks to some
heavy legal checking, also holds others to account.
Bombshell
is very good but it’s an amuse bouche, The
Loudest Voice is the a la carte menu which deserves to be savoured.
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