Film

Bombshell

Name: Bombshell
Genre: Drama
Released: 2019
Cast: Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, John Lithgow, Allison Janney

A brisk, angry docudrama about the women who took down Fox News chief Roger Ailes, told with three composite-ish leads and a wig budget that deserves its own producer credit. It's fast, quippy, occasionally too pleased with its own cleverness, and unmistakably furious underneath the gloss. Good for anyone who wants their workplace-power-abuse story delivered at newsroom speed rather than courtroom solemnity.

TMDb rating

6.8

If you liked this

She Said2022

The Weinstein investigation told through the two New York Times reporters who broke it — patient, procedural, and devastating in a completely different register than Bombshell's sprint.

But Deliberately undramatic; if you wanted Bombshell's snap and energy, this is quieter and slower by design.

The Morning Show2019

A prestige ensemble drama set at a TV network reeling from a Roger Ailes-shaped scandal, with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon doing career-best sharp-elbowed work.

But Glossy and occasionally soapy — it wants to be a think piece and a nighttime drama at once, and doesn't always land both.

Spotlight2015

The gold standard of journalism-uncovers-institutional-rot filmmaking — methodical, unglamorous, and quietly devastating where Bombshell is loud and quick.

But No stylistic fireworks at all; if you liked Bombshell's energy and asides to camera, this offers none of that.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Loudest Voice2019

Literally the same true story and same year, but inverted — format shifts from film to miniseries and point of view shifts from the women to the man they brought down.

A miniseries covering the exact same Roger Ailes scandal, but told from inside his head — Russell Crowe, unrecognizable, makes him pathetic and terrifying rather than cartoonish.

But Bleaker and more sustained than Bombshell's two-hour sprint; spending seven episodes with Ailes as your protagonist is genuinely unpleasant.

The Assistant2020

A near-silent, slow-burn look at complicity from the perspective of a junior employee — everything Bombshell says out loud, this says by omission.

But Almost no plot in the conventional sense; it's mood and dread, which will frustrate anyone wanting resolution.

North Country2005

An earlier, angrier dramatization of a real sexual harassment lawsuit, with Charlize Theron again in the lead — a useful before-and-after comparison of the same actress tackling similar terrain.

But More conventional courtroom-drama shape and a heavier hand with its emotional beats than Bombshell's brisker style.

Erin Brockovich2000

The template for the single woman versus a powerful institution movie, buoyed by a career-peak Julia Roberts performance that's both funny and furious.

But Warmer and more crowd-pleasing than Bombshell — it wants you to leave the cinema uplifted, not unsettled.

The Big Short2015

Same screenwriter, Charles Randolph, same fourth-wall-breaking, sugar-rush approach to a systemic institutional failure — if you liked Bombshell's style, this is where it came from.

But Subject is finance, not harassment, so the emotional stakes feel more abstract and less personal.

Vice2018

Adam McKay's satirical ensemble biopic of Dick Cheney shares Bombshell's love of stunt casting, prosthetics, and winking directly at the audience about power.

But More cynical and less sympathetic to anyone on screen — there's no equivalent to Bombshell's underdog heroines here.

Molly's Game2017

A sharp, talky Aaron Sorkin script about a woman outmaneuvering powerful men in a corrupt system, with the same brisk, quotable energy Bombshell trades in.

But Poker and legal maneuvering instead of institutional abuse — thematically adjacent, not a direct match.

Network1976

Same target — the moral rot of a broadcast news empire — but from decades earlier and in the register of scorched-earth satire rather than sober reenactment.

A 1976 satire that predicted exactly this — a TV news network devouring its own integrity for ratings and power — with a screenplay so savage it makes Bombshell look gentle.

But Broader and more theatrical than Bombshell's docudrama realism; some of its satire now plays as prophecy rather than comedy.

His Girl Friday1940

The same fight — a capable woman navigating a newsroom built by and for men — done first, decades earlier, and in a wildly different genre: rapid-fire comedy instead of docudrama.

A rapid-fire screwball comedy about a brilliant woman reporter fighting to be taken seriously in a newsroom run entirely by men — funny, fast, and eighty years ahead of its subject.

But A comedy, full stop — no harassment plot, no reckoning, just a woman winning the argument in real time, which some will find too light after Bombshell.