FILM: Bombshell

Bombshell is itself a bombshell, done in a brisk exposé style using newsy tropes like datelines, voiceovers, and occasional graphics to quicken the pulse of an already engaging multi-character story. Disenchanted Fox talk show host Gretchen Carlson drops the bomb when she sues Fox editor-in-chief Roger Ailes for sexual harassment, while Fox superstar Megyn Kelly has questions of her own as she heads up an internal investigation, and a young climber learns the price of getting ahead at the network. The film does a great job showing the great pressure on all of these women at different points in their careers to "play the game", the serious risks of calling out harassment, and why it is not a clear or easy decision to make. It also shows the pressures of a ratings-driven network, the strange symbiotic relationship that developed between Trump and Fox, and how the rise of Trump gave them a bit of whiplash with which not everyone at Fox was equally in tune. I appreciated the complexity of motivations written into the three protagonist characters, and further complexity underscored with an intriguing supporting character played by Kate McKinnon as a closeted lesbian working for Fox, a different example of the sacrifices and choices people make to get and keep a job. Strong performances all around, but especially awesome Charlize Theron as the steely Megyn Kelly and John Lithgow as the paranoid autocratic network head. I have to say that this film gave me a renewed appreciation of the importance of corporate culture, and companies like my employer who not only do all the training but are serious about wanting to provide space and means for people to speak out if they think something's wrong. Very different from Fox, at least as portrayed here, which demanded complete near cult-like loyalty to its leader. We can see in this film how that works out (just in case we weren't already noticing it in our real-life news).