Film Reviews: Spotlight and Bombshell
Allowing my interests in politics and journalism to make its way into my viewing choices.
I’ve actually been able to sit down and watch a couple of movies recently (admittedly, movies from a few years ago, but still). I went on a bit of a journalism kick with those films I’ve recently watched: Spotlight and Bombshell.
Spotlight, which won the Best Picture Oscar in 2016, is a film I probably needed to watch but was putting off given its subject matter. The film, which depicts the Boston Globe investigative team’s uncovering of the child abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests in the Archdiocese of Boston and the subsequent coverup, is not what one would describe a light or easy viewing. Yet seeing the lengths these reporters went to so that they could show the malice done in the name of these coverups, providing the sunlight to call attention to where the Church failed and what it had to address, is a remarkably story to tell. If you see the Church as a good in the world, it can be tough medicine to take. But it’s medicine that has to be taken.
Beyond that, portraying the discovery and reporting of these enormous transgressions, Spotlight is a fascinating depiction of what journalism, journalism of the greatest importance and merit, looks like when it’s done well. This is a film at the level of All The President’s Men in terms of how it depicts what the work of investigation and reporting looks like.
What drives the film is really the writing (Tom McCarthy and Josh Singer’s script won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) and the acting. The cast of Spotlight is star-studded: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Liev Schreiber, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, and Billy Crudup. Ruffalo and McAdams both got Supporting Actor/Actress nominations for their work in the film. Keaton does a great job as Walter “Robby” Robinson, the Boston lifer heading up the Spotlight team while Schreiber is remarkably restrained as Globe EIC Marty Baron. Tucci and Crudup have relatively small parts but make the most of their screen time as lawyers representing those abused in some capacity.
By bringing together all these strong actors (who can play these really interesting parts) and then giving them this award-winning script, you’ve got the recipe for a great film. That this film was filmed on location in Boston, and the way that choice gave the film that profound authenticity, also jumped off the screen. The film isn’t made in the visuals or the editing. The script and the acting is what makes Spotlight stand out and why it was worthy of the awards it won.
Moving on to film number two… as I was watching Bombshell, I found myself thinking a lot about another film, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. What both of those films have in common is that they show people who are… shall we say, problematic, in a sympathetic light. I’m thinking mainly of how Megan Kelly, played by Charlize Theron, is set up to be a "kind of heroic figure in the narrative. Looking at Kelly’s career, both during her time at Fox News and since, I just find giving her the “girl power” edit seems a bit problematic.
This film isn’t a biopic per se, but the questions that you’ll see arise when there’s a biopic on a controversial character apply here. How can you depict something in a major film without it streaming and feeling like a kind of endorsement? I do think depicting how the kind of harassment and toxic workplace culture Roger Ailes created at Fox News is important and showing how this affects all kinds of people across ideological spectrums. But I found the way it cast the Kelly figure in this extremely heroic light (when we’ve seen her turn back towards and embrace the cultures and mindsets that will often lead men to commit those acts of abuse) to be a bit frustrating.
Beyond those questions, I thought Bombshell was an entertaining and well-made film. It reminded me a little bit of The Big Short in the occasional irreverence in terms of its style. Amongst the big name actors—Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie—I thought Theron was the standout as Kelly (I found myself thinking I was actually watching Kelly, that’s how good that performance was). That’s not to take away from Kidman’s portrayal of Gretchen Carlson or Robbie’s composite character of Kayla. But Theron was the standout performance and she richly deserved her Oscar nomination.
John Lithgow, portraying Roger Ailes, was over the top but in a way that was particularly well calibrated for this narrative. However, I thought Russell Crowe’s performance as Ailes in the Showtime mini-series The Loudest Voice to be the most… interesting? revelatory? But it was fun seeing Lithgow go over the top while wearing the makeup and accouterments that made him inhabit the role of Ailes.
Jay Roach’s direction gives the film a slickness that keeps the viewer engaged, but also at times runs contrary to the seriousness of the narrative. But it gives the film a very singular feel and elevates it above the mere historical drama.
Spotlight was certainly the “better” of the two films, though Bombshell was the “easier” watch (which is something remarkable to say about a film that engages with the culture of harassment that existed around Roger Ailes at Fox News). I also think, though we’re removed from the time periods depicted as well as the moment of these films’ releases, they have something to say to us in our present moment and remain relevant films worth viewing.