Review of Woman of the Hour, directed by Anna Kendrick

As of late, I’ve been really upping my game when it comes to the kind of movies I’m watching. For those who are new to this blog, welcome! I used to work as a film and television critic for two and a half years, and departed that job recently (at the time of typing this) in April 2024. I focused on this blog more because it gave me more freedom with what I wanted to watch.

Because I’ve also been funemployed recently, waiting for an opportunity to come through that was supposed to start several months ago, I’ve been using this time to watch more movies and read more books. If you want to read more from my life and its many adventures, this blog is going to be full of content in the coming months.

Anyways, I opened Netflix on this day, October 21, and saw that Woman of the Hour had been released and was the top movie of the day. I had not known that this movie was coming out now, nor had I heard of it before, but apparently it was Anna Kendrick’s directing debut.

It was that, and the synopsis, that led me to want to sit down and watch it. I prepared a bowl of malatang in the pot I recently acquired while abroad in Korea, and then I chowed down as I watched the movie.

Let’s get into the review then, shall we?

A serial killer joins a dating show, and we see how he got to this point.

This is a movie that takes place across multiple different timelines. There are titles to let us know what exactly the period we’re currently watching is within, but if we’re going to be blunt early on in the review, I thought this made the film too fragmented. I couldn’t get invested because of how it was edited and paced.

The opening scene takes place in Wyoming, and the year is 1977. We meet serial killer Rodney Alcala, who is a real-life figure that might have killed over a hundred women. We’re never going to know the full amount as he has passed away by now. In this scene, he’s taking pictures of a girl in the plains when he strangles her. He then revives the woman and then strangles her to death again.

We then jump to 1978, where aspiring actress Cheryl Bradshaw is turned down by two directors she sees as kind of snooty. However, despite her Columbia BFA in acting, they offer her a role on a popular dating show: The Dating Game. She accepts it reluctantly with the help of her best friend, and then when she goes on the show, we see the third eligible bachelor for her is Rodney.

Another timeline we come to know is 1979, a year after the show. A girl named Amy runs away from her family, and when she’s sitting alone underneath a staircase, Rodney approaches her. They go off together.

Back on the dating show, a girl in the audience recognizes Rodney and causes a small scene. Her friend was murdered by him, and she goes to tell her boyfriend what happened. She then asks the security guard if she can talk to the producer, but he doesn’t take her seriously and sends her to the janitor.

In 1971, in New York City, a flight attendant gets a new apartment. As she moves her belongings into the apartment, she asks Rodney, who is across the street to help her. He agrees, and then he assaults her (I couldn’t tell if it was sexual) and then kills her too.

Cheryl gets tired of her script then asks hard hitting and intellectual questions. Only Rodney manages to impress her, and he wins. They go out for drinks after the fact, and he seems lively during their discussion. But when he insists on walking her back to the car, he asks for a phone number.

She gives him a fake one, and walks faster after he threatens her. He corners her against her car, but she is saved when people leave the studio.

Amy, the runaway from 1979, wakes up nude and bloody in the desert. She’s next to Rodney, who cries, and then she tells him she doesn’t want anyone to know about this. She convinces him to take her back, remove her restraints, and when they stop at a gas station, she makes a run for it while he’s in the bathroom.

The cops then show up and arrest him. Title cards then tell us how he was let go on bail, where he killed a girl and a woman. After that, he was arrested again. Cheryl eventually leaves California to start a family, and Rodney dies in prison.

Overall Thoughts

As I mentioned before, there are definitely some pacing problems for me when it comes to how the movie cuts/weaves between past, present, and future.

I can see how some people like that, but I couldn’t become invested in the individual characters because of it. Maybe a somewhat more chronological approach would’ve helped.

Besides that, I find this to be an interesting movie. Lots of commentary to unpack with Cheryl’s character and how she is not taken seriously in a male dominated industry and world.

From how she was treat with those two directors originally to the dating show, it shows how women get stuck in patriarchal cycles.

It also is taken a step further when we see how Rodney only targets what looks to be young women. “You look beautiful” is a line he busts out for several of his victims, which is a nice thing to say under normal circumstances, but instead becomes something so much more predatory with his wicked acts.

I’d say watch this one if you’re interested. You might find it worth it for sure.

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