Woman Of The Hour is a period thriller about the The Dating Game appearance of serial killer Rodney Alcala(Daniel Zovatto). The movie follows Alcala in a series of flashbacks/flashforwards that depict his murders cut with struggling actor Cheryl Bradshaw(Anna Kendrick) the eventual Bachelorette on the show and the taping itself.
Zovatto is, quite frankly, boring. Kind of a recycle of his character from Station Eleven. Thirty years ago this might have been an acceptable performance but with the proliferation of thrillers and true crime his take just doesn't offer anything unique or as something we haven't seen a hundred times before. Silence of the Lambs and even the more recent Mindhunter exist ie this is a well already deeply plumbed, the psychology/depiction of serial killers is something thoroughly investigated in pop culture and his portrayal just doesn't even register in comparison. There is no nuance or interest in it, it is simply superficially scary because of the situations depicted. Which perhaps would be OK if the focus of the movie was more on Cheryl but its confusingly split. Kendrick is serviceable but this push-and-pull of focus doesn't really give her enough to do and her character as a result is rendered just as a potential victim.
Kendrick as director shows a lot of promise, the film looks good, there's a tightness to it, threat, commentary, but the script confines her to a flawed structure. Despite the title, despite whatever good intent Kendrick and her team had making the movie, the result comes across as about Alcala and simply showing a series of his awful crimes is not only not entertaining it lacks any kind of dimension. Its bleak and bludgeoning, not thrilling or interesting.
Well-made but lacking a pulse.
Currently streaming on Netflix.
Don't See It.
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