Movie Review: Woman of the Hour

It’s been said that every actor dreams of becoming a director, and given how many of them have tried their hand behind the camera it’s at least a little bit true. But these are two very different skillsets, so being adept at one does not automatically mean you can master the other. For every Clint Eastwood there are at least a few William Shatners. Fortunately, in her first turn at the helm, Anna Kendrick has shown herself to be a natural, delivering a film with that is both competently made and clear in its vision that never forgets to be entertaining first and foremost.

Based on the true story of the time a brutal serial killer by the name of Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto, charming but creepy) appeared as a contestant on The Dating Game, this is not your normal, exploitative serial killer thriller. We do bear witness to some of his crimes in flashbacks and flash forwards, but his crime spree serves more as a backdrop to the main story, which follows aspiring actress Sheryl (Kendrick, winning as always), who has been unable to book any gigs since moving to Los Angeles.

After leaving another casting call that she perceives as having gone poorly she is particularly forlorn, but her agent calls and tells her that they have booked her an appearance. When she learns it is on The Dating Game she can’t help but be disappointed, but her agent reminds her that at least it will get her seen and she agrees to go on the show. So, one day in 1978 she walks into the studio, goes through hair and makeup, and walks onto the stage, where she is asked to choose among the three bachelors on the other side of the wall, one of whom is Rodney.

Kendrick has a keen eye, and together with cinematographer Zack Kuperstein and production designer Brent Thomas she has crafted a convincing replica of late-70’s Hollywood and captured it beautifully. Working from a script by Ian McDonald, she extracts maximum tension from the situation while making sure we know the true horror of what Alcala is capable of without ever veering into crass exploitation.

The real point of the movie however isn’t to showcase a chilling encounter with a killer, though it certainly does that, but instead to highlight the myriad ways that women were, and still are, forced to bend and contort their own beliefs to navigate a world dominated by men who often viewed them as lesser beings. It’s a smart parallel to draw, and while no one would deny that Alcala’s violence is far worse than the thoughtlessness, entitlement, and microaggressions that Sheryl experiences from moment to moment, it’s instructive to point out that in many ways those other men don’t value her life any more than a serial killer does.

The script could have used a touch more streamlining and might have been better served to jump around in time a bit less (this isn’t Lost after all), but this intelligent, tense thriller feels more like the work of an accomplished filmmaker than that of a first-time director and has me hoping that Kendrick will be offered more work behind the lens. ★★★★