Review: Woman of the Hour — Movies for the Rest of Us with Bill Newcott

Woman of the Hour

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Run Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Stars: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale

Writer: Ian McDonald

Director: Anna Kendrick

Streaming on Netflix

Reviewed at the Toronto International Film Festival

Men who objectify women come in all shapes and sizes – and in Woman of the Hour, director/star Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) has no use for any of them.

Foremost among the offenders in Kendrick’s fact-based thriller is, naturally, the mass murderer of women who disarms his prey with words of feigned enlightenment before making his deadly move. But Woman of the Hour finds maddeningly dismissive males at every turn: the condescending boyfriend, the manipulative neighbor, the dismissive police officer.

In fact, the entire 1970s culture depicted here seems preoccupied with women as objects of the male gaze. Exhibit A: The Dating Game, that insipid game show that pretended to place a woman in a position of power by having her select a date from three suitors – but that in reality served up the woman as eye candy for three salivating horndogs.

Kendrick plays Cheryl Bradshaw, an actual September 1978 Dating Game contestant who chose Bachelor Number One: a handsome, charming fellow named Rodney Alcala (Ronald Zovatto), who also happened to be a serial killer. His murderous past was still unknown, but in a breathtaking lack of contestant vetting, the producers failed to take note of the fact that Alcala had served time in prison for assaulting and beating an 8-year-old girl – a crime that had landed him on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitive List.

That fateful night in game show infamy is framed by screenwriter Ian McDonald with depictions of harrowing crimes Alcala committed before The Dating Game – and one of his later ones. It is in these passages that Kendrick’s steady hand as director is most evident: She treats the killer’s victims with all the respect and distance you’d hope for, portraying their horror with shocking immediacy while scrupulously avoiding tawdry sensationalism.

It would be nice to think at least one male of the species stepped forward to run interference for the women who Alcala stalked, but you won’t find any of them here. Heroic women, however, are plentiful: As Bradshaw, a struggling actress resorting to The Dating Game as a last-ditch effort at recognition, Kendrick projects a resourceful, pragmatic woman whose clear-eyed outlook just might save her from becoming the killer’s next victim. Nicolette Robinson (One Night in Miami) is heartbreaking as a Dating Game audience member who recognizes Alcala as the last man seen with a murdered friend. And Autumn Best is hauntingly perfect as one would-be victim whose ingenious resourcefulness saves not only her life but also the lives of who-know-how-many future victims (again, no thanks to the male-dominated authorities, who temporarily release Alcala to kill again).

The best that can be said of the men depicted in Woman of the Hour is that they, at least, benefit from terrific performances. As the killer, Zovatto pulls off the neat trick of depicting Alcala’s smooth-talking best boyfriend exterior while never letting us lose sight of the monster beneath. And as The Dating Game‘s host, Tony Hale hilariously embodies every misogynistic attitude that somehow survived the 1960s women’s liberation movement (perhaps mercifully, Hale’s character is a fictional creation, rather than having him play The Dating Game’s longtime host, Jim Lange).

Nerve-jangling when it ought to be, fun and disarmingly nostalgic when it needs to be, Woman of the Hour serves as an impressive director’s chair debut for Anna Kendrick – and a not-so-gentle reminder of the dangers inherent in viewing any portion of society as less than fully invested.