Woman of the Hour
2023
***
Director: Anna Kendrick
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Nicolette Robinson, Tony Hale, Autumn Best, Kathryn Gallagher, Kelley Jakle, Pete Holmes, Jedidiah Goodacre, Jessie Fraser, Taylor Hastings
In 1978, Rodney Alcala, a photographer on a multi‑state murder spree, appears as Bachelor #3 on the popular TV show The Dating Game. Anna Kendrick's directorial debut tells this incredible true story. Like Blink Twice, Zoë Kravitz's debut a few months earlier, this is a thought-provoking but poorly scripted #MeToo thriller that shines a particular light on the sexism and casual misogyny of the time. The film spends a lot of time on Alcala's individual atrocities. These scenes are tastefully done, but they are too long and lack any real drama. Kendrick herself plays a struggling actress who appears in the TV show, and for some reason, she is the main character of the story.
