October 25, 2024
Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) was an aspiring actress who was having a hard time to get a break in Hollywood. One day in 1978, she accepted a gig to be a contestant on the TV game show "The Dating Game" hosted by Ed Burke (Tony Hale). Cheryl thought the scripted questions were beneath her intelligence, so she decided to go off script. Bachelor 3 gave the best answers, so Cheryl chose him to win. His name was Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto).
One remarkable fact about "Woman of the Hour" was that this was Anna Kendrick's debut as a feature film director. Over the years since we first saw her in "Twilight" (2008) as one of Bella's friends, Kendrick stood out among the young actresses of her generation. She earned an Oscar nomination for her acting in "Up in the Air" (2009). She impressed us with her singing in "Pitch Perfect" (2012) and even had a #6 hit on the Hot 100 with "Cups" in 2013.
This was a solid directorial debut for Kendrick. She chose to tell the story of notorious 1970s serial killer Rodney Alcala in a non-linear order. From the first scene, we already see Rodney charm a girl by taking photos of her, before killing her in cold blood. Since we already knew his face and slick deceptive modus, Kendrick made it very unnerving for us to watch him make his move of various vulnerable girls, knowing how these encounters would end.
Anna Kendrick's acting turn as Cheryl was very much in the familiar vein of smart and sassy characters we know and like her for. Cheryl could have been an older version of Jessica from "Twilight" or Beca from "Pitch Perfect" as she rattled her bachelors and the emcee with her rapid-fire questions and off-the-cuff rebuttals. Thanks to Kendrick's directorial eye, that scene of Cheryl and Rodney walking in the parking lot was a intense highlight of suspense.
Daniel Zovatto pulled off playing both a cool guy with a gift of gab and name-dropping, and a creepy guy who made your hair stand on end. Tony Hale's Ed Burke seemed to be based on the way TV host Jim Lange looked, dressed, and probably behaved. Nicolette Robinson's Laura could've been a key witness if only police took her seriously. Denalda Williams's makeup artist Marilyn secretly supported Cheryl for going against the misogynistic grain. 7/10
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