Bombshell

Close but no cigar

If you saw Russell Crowe’s extraordinary portrayal of Roger Ailes in the Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice, based on Gabriel Sherman’s exposé of sexual harassment at Fox News, you may be disappointed in John Lithgow’s turn as Ailes. This is one of the problems I have with this entertaining, otherwise well acted, but wobbly film by Jay Roach. Lithgow plays Ailes as a pathetic character rather than a spiteful, paranoid force of nature who thoroughly enjoyed humiliating women, among other nefarious things he is to blame for, including the election of the malignant narcissist conman we have as president. The movie also glosses over the egregious conduct of others at Fox News, like Bill O’Reilly, Bill Shine, and Rupert Murdoch, who basically let it all happen.

Still, the three lead actresses, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie are fantastic, in particular Theron as Megyn Kelly. Prosthetics were used for her and for Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson. In Theron’s case they work, and she channels Kelly’s arrogant charisma to a t. Kidman, although poignant, doesn’t fare as well with a distracting double chin. She’s never going to look like Carlson so either live with it and let her act, or find someone else who looks the part. As in the miniseries, in which Carlson was played by Naomi Watts, no one really seems to have a clue about what this woman is about.