Bombshell

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) | Release Date: October 13, 1933

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

81	METASCORE Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

100

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

This early precursor to Sunset Boulevard and The Bad and the Beautiful was so inside that many people outside the movie business didn't catch the nuances, and it still packs a considerable comic punch. Read full review

Kenneth Turan

I have a weakness for inside Hollywood films, and this smart and fearless item starring Jean Harlow as an amalgam of herself and Clara Bow is not as well-known as it should be. [03 Apr 2020, p.E1]

Staff (Not Credited)

It's loud, abrasive, and as soothing as a slug of battery acid. This crackling 1933 satire directed by Victor Fleming skewers the Hollywood star system with saber-sharp precision. [23 Nov 2006, p.5]

Pare Lorentz

One of the funniest pictures of the year: a farce with Frank Morgan, Lee Tracy, Ted Healy and particularly Jean Harlow, concerning the life and times of a Hollywood star, complete with a Marquis and three dogs. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Here's a crackling comedy built out of the low down on Hollywood, elaborately dressed up with a lot of inside stuff, written with fine jaunty insouciance and acted with luscious abandon by a tip top cast. [24 Oct 1933, p.17]

Pauline Kael

Great fun in the uninhibited early-30s style, made at M-G-M before fear of church pressure groups turned the studio respectable and pompous.

Hal Erickson

Allegedly based on the career of Clara Bow (who, like Lola, had a parasitic family and a duplicitous private secretary), Bombshell is a prime example of Jean Harlow at her comic best. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

One of Jean Harlow's best pictures, this 1933 feature is a merciless satire of Hollywood, with Harlow as a movie star and Lee Tracy as her publicity agent. Read full review

Mordaunt Hall

Although there are moments when the comedy is too rambunctious and scenes which are not precisely convincing, it is for the most part a merry, fast-paced diversion. Read full review