Bombshell (2019)

Nominated for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Makeup and Hair    The year is 2016 and longtime anchor Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman) of Fox is fed up with the constant low-grade dismissiveness and outright sexual harassment from her co-workers that goes unchecked.  She meets with lawyers to begin bringing a case of sexual harassment against Roger Ailes (John Lithgow), the network head, for the culture of misogyny he allowed to spread unchecked.  Anchor Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) is also feeling the sting of being left out to dry by her network after her spirited attack on presidential candidate Donald Trump over his many, many derogatory statements about women goes viral.  Meanwhile, Kayla (Margot Robbie), a former intern of Carlson's, sees her future in the network glowing bright until she is invited into Ailes' office.

My mom asked me if this movie made Megyn Kelly seem sympathetic.  I have to say no.  I don't think there's anything that would make me like Megyn Kelly as a person, but no matter what someone's politics are, nobody deserves to be sexually harassed at work.  If anyone comes out of this thing smelling of roses, it's Gretchen Carlson who seems like a powderpuff right up until she goes for the jugular.  I've never watched her show and everything that Fox has touched is tainted by association, but she's the only one I thought was worth celebrating.  And of course it's the one performance not nominated for an Oscar.

Theron does an incredible job as Kelly.  The makeup and hair help, but even her voice patterns and expressions are dead on.  Robbie is a great actress but she's not given a whole lot to do here and her character was a little too one-dimensional for me.  It would be interesting to contrast this against The Loudest Voice, a miniseries also on the same topic.