‘Woman of the Hour’ movie review: a well-intentioned “nearly” film

Woman of the Hour is the directorial debut of Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick – and it’s fair to say she didn’t go the easy route when picking her first film to helm. Based on the bizarre true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala appearing on an episode of The Dating Game in 1978, Kendrick stars as Cheryl Bradshaw, the unlucky aspiring actor who unwittingly won a date with a man who had killed at least five women. The Netflix film has interesting things to say about the ingrained misogyny of murderous men like Alcala – but also the men of Hollywood and society in general – and it goes to great pains to relate the story to our modern times. Unfortunately, though, it can sometimes feel like the narrative’s momentum is sacrificed for these thematic concerns.

The film opens on Alcala—played with low-key menace by Station Eleven’s Daniel Zovatto—in 1977. The long-haired, seemingly empathetic photographer is taking pictures of a woman in the remote plains of Wyoming, and he seems genuinely interested in her life. Things take a chilling turn, though, when he pushes her to open up about a clearly painful breakup and then pounces upon her when she’s at her most vulnerable.

Kendrick’s camera acts almost like an unwilling witness as Alcala strangles the woman into unconsciousness. Then, horrifyingly, he revives her just long enough to begin strangling again. It’s a truly unsettling way to start a film and a real tone-setter. It’s also a brave call from Kendrick because on-screen violence toward women is such a hot-button topic in 2024, and the choice to open the movie this way could easily turn some audiences off immediately.

The film then proceeds to jump back and forth in time, juxtaposing Alcala’s misdeeds with Bradshaw’s plight as a struggling actor trying to make her way in show business. Kendrick delivers a good performance as Bradshaw, who has a habit of finding herself in potentially awkward situations because she won’t simply tell the men in her life what they want to hear. Her scenes with her friend/neighbour Terry – played by comedian Pete Holmes – are skin-crawling in their painfully accurate observations of how men and women relate. It’s clear Terry wants more than a friendship with Bradshaw, so the idea of sex is always hanging over every conversation like an omnipresent spectre – and when he doesn’t get what he thinks he’s owed, the atmosphere instantly goes ice cold.

Bradshaw’s experience on The Dating Game is also presented in a similarly skin-crawling fashion. Tony Hale gives a fun supporting turn as Ed Burke, a typically chauvinistic ’70s game show host loosely based on real-life host Jim Lange – but this mix of reality and fiction causes the movie to have difficulties, especially when Bradshaw decides to go off-script and make up her own questions for the contestants. While the scene gives Kendrick a chance to shine with some characteristic snark, it starts to feel too much like modern social and political commentary shoehorned into a character by writer Ian McDonald. At a certain point, it stops feeling like anything a real woman might have said in that situation.

The following scene, in which Bradshaw goes on her ill-fated date with Alcala, is much better, though, even if it also significantly departs from reality. In the real world, Bradshaw trusted her instincts about Alcala and refused to go on the date with him, but in the movie she agrees to a drink after the show. Zovatto and Kendrick have good chemistry in the scene, and she perfectly portrays the moment the vibe shifts from playful to dangerous. When Alcala follows Bradshaw to her car, the movie manages to sustain tension for the first time, and it leads to a genuine heart-in-mouth moment. It’s a marked relief when she’s able to drive away safely.

The last we see of Bradshaw in the film is when she decides to pack up and leave Los Angeles, but there is still a stretch left with a young runaway named Amy encountering Alcala. These scenes are maybe the best in the movie, as Autumn Best is excellent as Amy, and the audience quickly learns that she was actually integral in Alcala finally being caught by the authorities.

The fact that Bradshaw barely factors into the film’s denouement could be because Kendrick and McDonald are saying the “woman of the hour” isn’t necessarily her. Instead, it’s Amy, or it’s all the women who fell victim to Alcala, or it’s all the women in the world who are stuck in a society that forces them to be subservient to men. It’s hard not to think the movie’s star should have a bigger part to play in the climax, though, and that invites awkward questions about whether the filmmakers chose to focus on the most compelling aspect of the story or not.

In the end, Woman of the Hour is a “nearly” film. It’s fairly well made, with good performances and some vital things to say. Sadly, the fractured plotting and decision of where to place the focus hurt it, and it falls short of being a great movie. It’s certainly good and definitely worth watching—but no more than that.

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