Bombshell
Lionsgate | Release Date: December 13, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
18
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeJan 22, 2020
Bombshell is entertaining throughout, but it offers little more nuance than a morning spent with Fox & Friends. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicGarrett MitchellDec 23, 2019
Though the stories explored in Bombshell are explosive, the film's uneven pace makes them merely sizzle like reading a news brief instead of an illustrative Vanity Fair profile. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekDec 13, 2019
Theron is a superb and versatile actor, and she’s good here — it’s not that she always needs to play nice characters. But as Megyn Kelly, she’s like a Hitchcock blonde with all the allure drained from her. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 9, 2019
The material is worthy, but this continuing struggle deserves a more nuanced take. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyDec 9, 2019
Bombshell is a bright, watchable film on a subject that ought to make us squirm. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 9, 2019
It is a strange film in some ways, speckled with powerful, insightful moments but also with some strained acting, pulled punches and fudged attitudes, unable to decide if its heroines are compromised through having been loyal Fox staffers. Read full review
59
PolygonJesse HassengerDec 12, 2019
Apart from some compelling procedural elements, the movie is mostly style, and that style is a generic mess of tics: pseudo-documentary quick zooms, exchanges of fraught glances, and handheld camera work. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldDec 19, 2019
Ultimately, the film’s unwillingness to go deeper makes it fall flat. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorDec 18, 2019
Ambivalent and tepid as it attempts to fashion a tick-tock thriller from Ailes’s downfall. Read full review
50
IGNKristy PuchkoDec 13, 2019
Charlize Theron's eerie turn as Megyn Kelly aside, Bombshell doesn't do justice to the subject matter it explores. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 12, 2019
By all wrongs, though — beginning with a single-minded script and clumsy direction — a movie with a compelling story to tell turns into a blunt-force polemic that can’t stop hammering its message home. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreDec 12, 2019
You can occasionally see flashes of the better, sharper movie Bombshell could have been, and while there aren’t many of those moments, there are enough that it can’t be written off entirely. Read full review
50
SlateDana StevensDec 9, 2019
Whatever beliefs they may hold about other people’s humanity, I’m glad these women finally received justice from the network that wronged them. I’m just not sure that translates into wanting to spend two hours in their company. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubKatie RifeDec 9, 2019
The film is a snappy, glib tour of recent history in the Adam McKay mold, hydroplaning through the stormy real-life events that led to Ailes’ departure from Fox News with windshield wipers on high and blinders strapped to each side of its head. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiDec 9, 2019
What Bombshell has going for it is a jaunty pace. The film by Jay Roach — the “Austin Powers” director who’s had rotten luck with dramas — clips along and is always watchable. But it misguidedly mimics other annoying, ripped-from-the-headlines movies, such as “The Big Short” and “Vice,” that rely on Elvis-impersonator acting, smug narration and quick cuts. Sometimes, you just want to see a tough topic taken seriously. Read full review
42
ConsequenceBrett ArnoldDec 14, 2019
Bombshell is at its best when it’s an amusing behind-the-scenes look at Fox News and how the entire operation is setup to enrage your parents. But the film’s at its worst when it’s trying to tell a story of empowering women via problematic real-life figures. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Simran HansJan 18, 2020
The film can’t square the fact that its protagonists are the victims of sexism and yet perpetuate it by sheer virtue of working for a rightwing news channel. Read full review
40
The New YorkerAnthony LaneDec 16, 2019
As often occurs with topical tales, which are hellbent on catching a widespread mood (in this instance, anger and disgust), there’s something hasty and undigested about Bombshell....the action is relentlessly sliced and diced. Why, we could almost be watching TV! Read full review
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