Bombshell

In Bombshell, Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie portray the female employees who drop the bomb that brings down Fox News mogul Roger Ailes for harassment. Is it #toosoon from real-life events to make an accurate movie? Or is it perfectly timed as one of the first #metoo movies of its time? #ProbablyBoth.

Witnessing and absorbing the frightening situations as they unfold followed by the joy of a skewering payback ­— in just under two hours ­— may be unnatural, but it sure makes for satisfying cinema. Jay Roach (director of Trumbo, Meet the Fockers, and the Austin Power films) steers this story at a brisk pace that adds energy to the static office setting and serious social commentary at hand.

Bombshell opens with just Theron’s voice (Or should I say Megyn Kelly’s voice?) and she fully inhabits the role without turning it into a Saturday Night Live caricature. However, Robbie plays a composite character. It is her bright-eyed character whose vulnerability conveys the degrading horrors of the icky situation that gives this film its soul.

When Theron and Robbie's characters finally share the screen, it’s not the meeting of heroes in a finale comeback arc that you'd expect; it’s a powerful conversation about complicity and sounding the alarm too late.

Interesting to anyone who’s seen a trailer or poster for this film, none of the three leads share much screen time with the other aside from a tense moment in an elevator that's worth about ten bucks alone.

In a nutshell: A quality film made during the time of its topic that works most impressively as a showcase for its female stars.

Award potential: Expect (only) the stars to be noticed come Oscar nomination time. Standouts Theron and Robbie (also in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) should get nominations. Kidman, with much less to do, is only a possibility.

The Ten Buck Review: Worth ten bucks.