Bombshell (2019)

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Starring Academy Award® winner Charlize Theron, Academy Award® winner Nicole Kidman, Academy Award® nominee John Lithgow and Academy Award® nominee Margot Robbie, based on the real scandal, BOMBSHELL is a revealing look inside the most powerful and controversial media empire of all time; Fox News, and the explosive story of the women who brought down the infamous man who created it.

Directed by Emmy® Award winner Jay Roach and written by Academy Award® winner Charles Randolph. BOMBSHELL also stars Emmy® Award winner Kate McKinnon, Golden Globe® nominee Connie Britton, Emmy® Award winner Mark Duplass, Emmy® Award nominee Rob Delaney, Golden Globe® nominee Malcolm McDowell and Academy Award® winner Allison Janney.

Trailer:

Release date: 12/20/19

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award nominations:

Best Actress – Charlize Theron

Best Supporting Actress – Margot Robbie

Best Acting Ensemble

Best Hair and Makeup

[ElectricBoogaloo]

SAG Award nominations:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role - Charlize Theron

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Nicole Kidman

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role - Margot Robbie

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

Edited December 12, 2019 by ElectricBoogaloo

[SmithW6079]

Why does the teailer give if a lesbian thriller vibe, especially when Nicole Kidman remarks about how hot it is? They could have chosen a different scene.

[AimingforYoko]

On 12/15/2019 at 6:54 PM, SmithW6079 said:

Why does the teailer give if a lesbian thriller vibe

Well, one of the three was a lesbian (or bi, I guess.)

The three main stars did a great job, but my MVP was John Lithgow as Roger Ailes. He nailed him as a complete creep who was totally befuddled as to what he did wrong.

[Miss Slay]

Just saw this. It was okay. It didn't tell me anything I didn't know.

[SallyAlbright]

5 hours ago, Miss Slay said:

Just saw this. It was okay. It didn't tell me anything I didn't know.

My thoughts exactly. It felt very...literal. Just, here is what happened to these people. I'm not really sure what else I wanted or expected, but it just felt very simple.

I did think the performances were good, especially Margot Robbie who made me care about a character I could have easily disliked a lot. But as a whole, the film was underwhelming. 

[kiddo82]

I thought the movie did a really good job with explaining the "why".  Why don't women say no to the casting couch?  Why don't they speak out sooner?  Why didn't she just walk out of his office?  I thought the scene with Margot Robbie and the dress in Ailes' office, while uncomfortable to watch, really exemplified this.  He doesn't start out saying "Sleep with me and I'll make you a star." or "Sleep with me or you're fired."  It starts out with the seemingly pragmatic "it's a visual medium" and she thinks "I'll just do this tiny thing, while icky, and then it'll be over and I'll be better off for it."  Then it escalates and she reaches a point not that she doesn't want to stop it, she's practically screaming it, but she doesn't know how to.  The scene where she breaks down later was very well done.  I also thought the Kate McKinnon character was a good stand in for the deals we all have to make with ourselves on the reg.  She doesn't want to work for a company that for all intents and purposes contradicts her own values and views but she needs a job.  It again speaks to the "why," just on a different level.  I agree it wasn't a perfect film but it did hit on certain notes for me.

I liked all three leads and was almost distracted at how much they got Charlize Theron to look like Kelly especially with the shorter hair.  I also laughed to myself every single time "Jeanine Pirro" showed up because all I can think of any time I see her now is Cecily Strong's impersonation.  

[methodwriter85]

4 hours ago, kiddo82 said:

I also thought the Kate McKinnon character was a good stand in for the deals we all have to make with ourselves on the reg.  She doesn't want to work for a company that for all intents and purposes contradicts her own values and views but she needs a job.  It again speaks to the "why," just on a different level.  I agree it wasn't a perfect film but it did hit on certain notes for me.

I liked the realistic touch that Kate McKinnon hid the photo of her with her girlfriend once the Big Boss started speaking. Having your straight friend make a grand speech about being open about who you are doesn't change the fact that you are a lesbian working at a company that has made their brand that is precisely against who you are. I also liked that Margot's character pretty had the realization that Fox News was going to stay Fox News, just without the sexual harassment, and she didn't want to work for them, period.

Edited December 24, 2019 by methodwriter85

[AimingforYoko]

9 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

Having your straight friend make a grand speech about being open

Is she? Bi, at the very least, I'd say.

[methodwriter85]

11 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Is she? Bi, at the very least, I'd say.

I didn't watch the first half of the movie so I'll defer to you. She was on a date with a man in the latter half of the movie so I just figured she was straight, because that's how I interpreted Kate McKinnon's speech which very clearly seemed to say that she was a lesbian while Margot's character is not.

Edited December 25, 2019 by methodwriter85

[choclatechip45]

I really liked it. It brought up a lot of emotions. I did not realize Nicole Kidman played Gretchen Carlson.

[RealHousewife]

On 12/22/2019 at 10:07 PM, SallyAlbright said:

I did think the performances were good, especially Margot Robbie who made me care about a character I could have easily disliked a lot. But as a whole, the film was underwhelming. 

I found Margot’s performance really moving. 

[RealHousewife]

2 hours ago, Sarah Heart said:

Charlize Theron totally nails Megyn Kelly,  it's incredible  and proves once again,  she's one of the best actresses around. John Lithgow as Roger Ailes is unrecognizable,  but he's excellent. 
The scene with Kayla ( Margot  Robbie )and Ayles had me in tears.

Ditto. Charlize was awesome, one of my absolute favorites. And Margot nailed being a vulnerable, eager young woman. She had me in tears too, and I'm not particularly sappy.

[slf]

I'll be honest, I'm more than a little annoyed that when they chose to make a #MeToo movie (which is essentially what this is) they chose to make it about these women. Also, "Bombshell"? 🤢

[Spartan Girl]

Great performances from Charlize, Nicole, Lithgow, and Robbie. It's pretty ambitious to make a movie about Megyn Kelly, knowing full well that most people despise her, myself included. But even I felt for her when she was getting all that crap from the red hats. 

I loved it when Ailes' lawyer dropped the bomb that Gretchen had been taping thr harassments and only chosen to reveal it after he'd pretty much hung himself. Well played.

I'd say more but at the risk of getting political, I'll abstain.

[Silver Raven]

Nicole Kidman's ill-fitting dentures bugged the hell out of me.

But Theron and Lithgow killed it.

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

BAFTA nominations:

Leading Actress - Charlize Theron
Supporting Actress - Margot Robbie
Make Up & Hair - Vivian Baker, Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan

[Dr.OO7]

I saw this today. It was very good and well acted. Charlize Theron looked so much like Megyn Kelly it was eerie.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Critics' Choice Award!

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Oscar nominations:

Actress - Charlize Theron
Actress in a Supporting Role - Margot Robbie
Makeup and Hairstyling - Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker

Edited January 20, 2020 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Simon Boccanegra]

Like some others here, I thought this was just okay. It might have played better at home on television; it has that glossy TV-movie quality. It was best in the scenes involving Margot Robbie's invented character, both with and without Kate McKinnon. The scene with Kayla in Ailes's office, being pressured to raise her skirt more and more, was so strong, so excruciatingly perfect in its execution, that it cried out for a really great film to surround it.

For the most part, it was very much the Vice of 2019: flashy, not so deep, with the primary interest being seeing well-known actors playing famous conservatives of recent history, with superb prosthetic and cosmetic assists. If Bombshell wins that makeup/hair Oscar, I will be in support.    

A small bow to Australian actor Ben Lawson, who played one of the Murdoch sons. I recognized him immediately from a quickly canceled and forgotten legal drama I watched ten years ago (The Deep End). His credits suggest I have seen him in nothing since. I'm going to chalk this up to some memorable look or presence he has rather than any remarkable memory of my own for faces, because I'm one of those people who frequently see closing credits and think (about much more famous actors) "He was in this? Who did he play? Oh!"  I see now that Ben Lawson's brother Josh was the other Murdoch son.

Seriously, though, whatever one thinks of Kelly or other FOX News women, the reaction video below is worth watching. It almost made me think more highly of Bombshell. They should get permission to include it as a bonus feature when the movie makes it to home video.    

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by Simon Boccanegra

[sugarbaker design]

I have a question, for those who've seen Bombshell, about a particular plot point.  Near the end of the movie, MK is taking to a lawyer, she's describing a meeting with RA, she ends the narrative with 'after the third time I left'.  Did MK admit to sleeping with Ailes?  Could someone elaborate on that scene?  No one I know has seen the movie.

Edited January 25, 2020 by sugarbaker design

[Simon Boccanegra]

8 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

I have a question, for those who've seen Bombshell, about a particular plot point.  Near the end of the movie, MK is taking to a lawyer, she's describing a meeting with RA, she ends the narrative with 'after the third time I left'.  Did MK admit to sleeping with Ailes?  Could someone elaborate on that scene?  No one I know has seen the movie.

She has never said she acquiesced to sleeping with him. The scene/line in the film refers to a claim she made in 2016, about her early time at FOX. Here is how she worded it in a Good Morning America interview: “It culminated in a physical attempt to be with me, which I rejected in his office. He tried to kiss me three times. So I rejected that. And when I rejected that, he asked me when my contract was up.” 

[sugarbaker design]

Thank you so much for clearing that up Simon Boccanegra.

[Dancingjaneway]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:32 PM, slf said:

I'll be honest, I'm more than a little annoyed that when they chose to make a #MeToo movie (which is essentially what this is) they chose to make it about these women. Also, "Bombshell"? 🤢

I agree with this 100%. It's hard for me to feel sorry for women who are homophobes, racists & have no qualms spreading dangerous misinformation. The only reason this movie got made was because the victims were good looking white women. As much as I love Margo, Charlize & Kate there is no way in hello kitty I am gonna see this crap. 

[slf]

I feel bad for them. Misogyny, sexual harrassment, etc., are never okay, no matter how awful the woman being targeted is.

[Dancingjaneway]

10 hours ago, slf said:

I feel bad for them. Misogyny, sexual harrassment, etc., are never okay, no matter how awful the woman being targeted is.

I definitely don't think they deserved it, nobody does. But I have a harder time giving a shit about women who didn't give a crap about the topic until it happened to them. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

10 hours ago, slf said:

I feel bad for them. Misogyny, sexual harrassment, etc., are never okay, no matter how awful the woman being targeted is.

 

22 minutes ago, Dancingjaneway said:

I definitely don't think they deserved it, nobody does. But I have a harder time giving a shit about women who didn't give a crap about the topic until it happened to them. 

Yeah, same here. And what makes me even less sympathetic toward them is that they were mocking other women for being “too sensitive” about being harassed—at the same time some say that they were being harassed. 
 

This may be an unfair comparison, but it’s like asking me to like people who have been hateful, misogynistic, racist, because they got cancer or sick. Like the latter cancels out the former.

I have no desire to watch this, nor will I.

[Pearson80]

39 minutes ago, Dancingjaneway said:

I definitely don't think they deserved it, nobody does. But I have a harder time giving a shit about women who didn't give a crap about the topic until it happened to them. 

Exactly and these same women decried people who challenged a system that oppressed them as being snowflakes and reveling in being a victim.

[Sarah 103]

On 1/24/2020 at 6:30 AM, Simon Boccanegra said:

For the most part, it was very much the Vice of 2019: flashy, not so deep, with the primary interest being seeing well-known actors playing famous conservatives of recent history, with superb prosthetic and cosmetic assists. If Bombshell wins that makeup/hair Oscar, I will be in support.    

I thought Vice was a narrative mess that overused fade to black, and had many other problems. It tried to be clever and postmodern but failed. There was far too much narration and the movie completed violated show, don't tell. The cutaways interrupted the flow and could have easily been dramatized scenes. While Bombshell wasn't perfect, it did a far better job of telling its story in a compelling manner than Vice. 

[Simon Boccanegra]

 

17 hours ago, slf said:

I feel bad for them. Misogyny, sexual harrassment, etc., are never okay, no matter how awful the woman being targeted is.

I agree, and I actually thought it was something that gave the movie an interesting hook. A safer play would have been making a #metoo movie about women the audience for a #metoo movie would find wholly admirable. This had a messy layer of complication: women the audience might be ambivalent or worse toward.  Sometimes that is where good drama lives. It was fascinating to me to see Megyn Kelly (or this script's version of her) saying so defensively "I'm not a feminist!" not once but two or three times. She was defensive about being seen as a feminist the way someone in a different media company would be defensive about being seen as a racist. Just wanting equitable treatment for women was a scarlet letter to fear having affixed to you in this place...and she and Carlson did thrive in that toxic system, and they made their contributions to it. 

But then, I do sympathize with them for the reason you give, and I respect them for pushing back. Their name recognition and stature gave weight to the similar claims of a larger group.  

For those who have not seen the film, I'll add that it does touch on the stories of some other women at FOX who really weren't political on-air talent, but who were harassed or propositioned and then made to disappear. There were some. FOX does at least pretend to be a news-gathering organization, and there are producers and reporters who were breaking into the business and ended up working there because it's the network where they could get a job.  

All that said, it's still a case where I think a better film was in the subject. It has qualities and scenes I'm happy to have seen, but it's only fitfully good. So I can't passionately argue that anyone should plunk down [whatever insane amount is your city's median] to catch it in a theater.  

Edited January 27, 2020 by Simon Boccanegra
Adding the correct quote

[slf]

1 hour ago, Simon Boccanegra said:

 

I agree, and I actually thought it was something that gave the movie an interesting hook. A safer play would have been making a #metoo movie about women the audience for a #metoo movie would find wholly admirable. This had a messy layer of complication: women the audience might be ambivalent or worse toward.  Sometimes that is where good drama lives. It was fascinating to me to see Megyn Kelly (or this script's version of her) saying so defensively "I'm not a feminist!" not once but two or three times. She was defensive about being seen as a feminist the way someone in a different media company would be defensive about being seen as a racist. Just wanting equitable treatment for women was a scarlet letter to fear having affixed to you in this place...and she and Carlson did thrive in that toxic system, and they made their contributions to it. 

But then, I do sympathize with them for the reason you give, and I respect them for pushing back. Their name recognition and stature gave weight to the similar claims of a larger group.  

For those who have not seen the film, I'll add that it does touch on the stories of some other women at FOX who really weren't political on-air talent, but who were harassed or propositioned and then made to disappear. There were some. FOX does at least pretend to be a news-gathering organization, and there are producers and reporters who were breaking into the business and ended up working there because it's the network where they could get a job.  

All that said, it's still a case where I think a better film was in the subject. It has qualities and scenes I'm happy to have seen, but it's only fitfully good. So I can't passionately argue that anyone should plunk down [whatever insane amount is your city's median] to catch it in a theater.  

I don't think it would have been safer to choose different women. This film took a very cowardly approach to Carlson, Kelly, and Fox in general. It barely touched on their treatment of other women and the culture they helped support. The thing about Kelly and the others is that they were angry it had happened to them and other women very much like them. But when it was women who didn't fit inside this one very specific demographic? Fuck those lying whores. And yeah, you could get a movie out of that if you were willing to really dive in but this film wasn't.

And I'm sorry but I just really dislike this insistence from Hollywood that movies that tackle major issues through the lens of despicable people are somehow deeper. Like, everyone knows Lindsey Graham is gay but that doesn't mean I want to watch a movie about homophobia with him as the fucking hero.

7 hours ago, Dancingjaneway said:

I definitely don't think they deserved it, nobody does. But I have a harder time giving a shit about women who didn't give a crap about the topic until it happened to them. 

Now that I get. I mean, I think that's true for a lot of people - that you care more when it finally happens to you - but for me it's also what they continued to do, all the ways they have propped themselves up as defenders of women and as the right kind of victim. I remember reading that someone Gretchen Carlson helped get fired from Miss America said she was told that one of the talking points she had to push was that a Miss America (meaning Carlson who is a former MA) started #MeToo. Just the fucking gall. A black woman named Tarana Burke started the movement 14 years ago. But of course Carlson has tried to erase her and take credit for her work.

And it bears repeating, calling this movie Bombshell is just so fucking gross.

[Pink ranger]

On 1/27/2020 at 9:24 AM, slf said:

I don't think it would have been safer to choose different women. This film took a very cowardly approach to Carlson, Kelly, and Fox in general. It barely touched on their treatment of other women and the culture they helped support. The thing about Kelly and the others is that they were angry it had happened to them and other women very much like them. But when it was women who didn't fit inside this one very specific demographic? Fuck those lying whores. And yeah, you could get a movie out of that if you were willing to really dive in but this film wasn't.

Disagree. The movie was about showing how the actions of those women was a prelude  to where we are now concerning abuse in the workplace.The believe women movement is about changing the cultural habit of not putting the blame of sexual harassment on who it deserves to go, the abuser, but on the victim.   Saying that right wing women who work at a right wing news channel ” created” the circumstances under which they where harassed isn’t very different from scolding rape victims who dressed inappropriately.

The movie clearly depicted Roger as the one in the wrong and that’s appropriate.
 
Carlson and Kelly and the other accusers did change the cultural at FOX, they outed the pervert CEO and Bill o Reilly and eventually others. Now they  both are doing the press rounds on talk shows talking about the wider #metoo movement speaking  very much like liberal feminists, it’s weird watching them after being used to their Fox News era talking points. 

 

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by Pink ranger

[shantown]

Finally watching this movie during a quarantine binge. Can someone smarter than I am fill me in on what was up with Megyn Kelly's assistants? They both kept getting these heavy beats that didn't seem to pay off to anything. The red-headed assistant (Lily?) seemed like she was going to confess to also having been harassed by Ailes, though I didn't see anything that indicated that she finally did so. She kept having weird facial expressions when Kelly was talking to the small team, and even asked if she truly wanted to know names. The darker haired assistant (Julia?) seemed like she was being set up as one of those spies from upstairs that the local anchor talked about. Maybe it was just the actress, but she played the character as very shady, with no real payoff at the end. Anyone else think so or was I reading into it way too much?

[bijoux]

I watched it on TV and liked it. I wasn't really on board with the breaking the fourth wall in the beginning, but it wasn't there so much and it didn't bother me on the whole.

I do think this may work better for people outside the US, where this casehasn't made that much splash. I have heard of it, but only remember it in the vaguest terms. I had no idea who Gretchen Carlson was and likely forgot that Megyn Kelly was a part of it. I think the movie could have used more scenes like the one in which Megyn went on about white Santa and Jesus because I think this is an important part of this issue. I wouldn't want to be friends with these women, but they still didn't deserve what they went through. 

Margot Robbie is just so consistently great when she is given material. He phone call scene was the definite highlight for me. 

On 3/26/2020 at 11:09 PM, shantown said:

Finally watching this movie during a quarantine binge. Can someone smarter than I am fill me in on what was up with Megyn Kelly's assistants? They both kept getting these heavy beats that didn't seem to pay off to anything. The red-headed assistant (Lily?) seemed like she was going to confess to also having been harassed by Ailes, though I didn't see anything that indicated that she finally did so. She kept having weird facial expressions when Kelly was talking to the small team, and even asked if she truly wanted to know names. The darker haired assistant (Julia?) seemed like she was being set up as one of those spies from upstairs that the local anchor talked about. Maybe it was just the actress, but she played the character as very shady, with no real payoff at the end. Anyone else think so or was I reading into it way too much?

You know, I actually thought the brunette assistant would turn out to be one of the victims.