BOMBSHELL : Tuesday 21st January 2020.

'BOMBSHELL' which I saw earlier this week is an M Rated American biographical drama film Directed by Jay Roach whose previous Directorial credits take in 'Blown Away', the three 'Austin Powers' instalments, 'Mystery, Alaska', 'Meet the Parents', 'Meet the Fockers', 'Dinner for Schmucks', 'The Campaign' and 'Trumbo' more recently. The film was released in the US in mid-December, has received generally positive Reviews, and has so far grossed US$35M from its US$32M production budget. Among its haul of fifteen award wins and 53 other nomination so far, the film has at the 92nd Academy Awards, earned three nominations: received two nominations at the 77th Golden Globe Awards; four at the 26th Screen Actors Guild Awards and three at the 73rd British Academy Film Awards.

Here, the film centres upon the female Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron), and journalist and television commentator Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) in Manhattan, and their sexual harassment allegations on 6th July 2016 against the founder of Fox News Roger Ailes (John Lithgow). Ailes heads up Fox News, the #1 ranking conservative news channel on television which he built from the ground up. Kelly is one of the most popular newscasters on primetime news and is a co-moderator of the 2016 Republican Presidential debate, in which Trump is running, supported by Ailes and the Fox News channel.

On the day of the debate, Kelly becomes physically sick and vomits several times. She rests up in her hotel bedroom for five hours before the debate goes live. Awake and somewhat refreshed she questions Donald Trump on several recorded derogatory comments he has made about women in the past. In retaliation, he Tweets insults about her, and other supporters of Trump follow suit. One reporter sneaks into Kelly's back yard at their home to photograph her daughter through the closed windows, prompting Kelly's husband, Douglas (Mark Duplass), to see off the intruder. Later when Kelly is recounting this to Ailes in his office he says that perhaps someone tried to poison her on the day of the debate by spiking her Starbucks coffee. Fox then hires a security crew for Kelly.

Carlson meanwhile is removed unceremoniously from the popular daily morning show 'Fox and Friends' and relegated to a much less popular afternoon timelsot with a cut in her pay too. Swamped by sexist comments on and off the air, Carlson meets with lawyers who tell her how Rudi Bakhtiar (Nazanin Boniadi) - a Fox News Channel general correspondent, reporting on major international news stories was fired after accusing Brian Wilson (Brian d'Arcy James) - a former anchor reporter for Fox News Channel of sexual harassment back ten years ago, and the matter was largely swept under the carpet by Ailes. At Carlson's behest, they plan to file a harassment suit against Ailes but tell her that she'll need evidence and testimony from other women who have been similarly harassed over the years.

Kayla Pospisil (an amalgam of real life Fox News characters for the purpose of the film as portrayed by Margot Robbie) is Fox's newest hire, who works with Carlson, but soon accepts a job on 'The O’Reilly Factor'. Bill O'Reilly (Kevin Dorff) fires her on her first day on the job. Feeling sorry for herself she gets drunk and sleeps with Fox's Jess Carr (Kate McKinnon) after a night on the town in which Carr offers Pospisil plenty of inside advice on how to navigate the cutthroat world of television news. When they wake up, Pospisil says she's not a lesbian and is surprised to see Carr's Hillary Clinton poster stuck to her fridge door. Asked why a liberal lesbian would work for Fox, Carr says she applied for numerous jobs over the years, but Fox hired her, and now no one else will.

Pospisil later is invited to Ailes' office, for an impromptu 'interview'. Ailes one condition in fast tracking a career is that he asks for undivided loyalty from his people, and he asks Pospisil to consider a way in which she can demonstrate her loyalty. He asks her to stand up and do a 'twirl' and then makes her lift her skirt to show him her underwear, on the basis that TV news is a 'visual medium'. He compliments her on her figure. She later tells Carr, who says she can't get involved for fear of drawing undue attention to herself as a lesbian in the very male dominated and conservative workplace.

Carlson broadcasts on air that she supports the semi-automatic assault weapons ban, although a news poll live to air indicates that 89% of the audience do not, prompting Ailes to summons her. She's fired and is given no clear reasons for why. She decides to sue Ailes. He meets with his wife, Beth (Connie Britton), and attorneys Susan Estrich (Allison Janney) and Rudy Giuliani (Richard Kind), and naturally vehemently denies the absurd allegations. All female staff members are asked to stand with Fox, and most do, but Kelly doesn't comment, secretly weighing up her options.

When the law suit is filed and made public in the newspapers and on the news channels around the country, Carlson's hopes and expectations are quickly splintered when no other women come forward. Viewers quickly turn on her saying that her allegations are made up hearsay and carry no weight. Kelly however, attempts to find other women, including Pospisil, who were sexually harassed by Ailes or O’Reilly.

Pospisil over the phone to Carr one evening says she obeyed Ailes sexual advances to safeguard her career but now has regrets and wants to come forward. Kelly in turn speaks up about her own sexual harassment claims against Aisles and learns that 22 other women will too. Estrich is called out of the room expecting Carlson to settle out of court, but returns confronting Ailes and his wife, with the news that Carlson has secretly recorded their conversations over the course of a whole year, and on that basis she will win the case against him. 

Ailes meets with Fox co-creator Rupert Murdoch (Malcolm McDowell) and his two sons Lachlan (Ben Lawson) and James (Josh Lawson), who tell him he'll be fired, and hands him a written note with a severance payment as a first and final offer, no further discussion. Ailes asks to break the news with Murdoch back at the office in front of his team personally, but Rupert refuses. When Murdoch arrives at the Fox News Offices, stands up in front of the gathered staffers and says he's taking over Fox as interim CEO, Carr remains silent. Pospisil, knowing she'll be fired, walks out the door and quits on the spot.

Meanwhile, Carlson is awarded US$20M in damages and an apology from Fox but cannot speak about her case. The closing credits reveal that Fox paid out a further US$50M in compensation to the Fox victims of sexual harassment and abuse, and that between them Ailes and O'Reilly received US$65M in severance payments. Ailes died on 18th May 2017.

This is a thought provoking, darkly satirical, yet infinitely entertaining and informative film about the horrific events of years of bigotry and sexual harassment that unfolded at Fox News just a few short years ago, which makes it all the more relevant, all the more fresh in the mind and all the more compelling to watch. The four key cast members are all excellent in their roles, with Theron nailing her portrayal of Kelly in every detail, Robbie outstanding as the enthusiastic young gun who gets in way too far over her head, Kidman stoic as the determined put upon Carlson who is short changed as a character and could have done with more screen time with Theron and Robbie, and of course Lithgow as the morally corrupt and all powerful big boss of them all, and who ultimately gets his comeuppance. The production values are first rate, the script smart, the dialogue snappy and the film moves along at a good pace. Director Jay Roach here weaves a true story that needs to be told, and one that needs to be seen as the launchpad for the #MeToo movement that was also the subject of a seven part TV miniseries last year 'The Loudest Voice' with Russell Crowe in a highly acclaimed portrayal of Roger Ailes. Certainly worth the price of your cinema ticket.

'Bombshell' warrants four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard, from a possible five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-