The film stars Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie, and is based on the accounts of the women at Fox News who set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment.

After co-moderating the 2016 Republican debate, Megyn Kelly faces numerous insults from Donald Trump, who is angry because she asked him about his offensive comments toward women.

At the time of the announcement, it was confirmed that Bron Studios was staying on and that producers were looking at Focus Features, Participant Media, and Amblin Entertainment to help finance the film.

[18][19] In October 2018, it was announced that Malcolm McDowell, Mark Duplass, and Alice Eve had been cast as Rupert Murdoch, Douglas Brunt, and Ainsley Earhardt, respectively.

[20][11] In November 2018, it was reported that Brigette Lundy-Paine and Liv Hewson had been cast as two fictional characters[21] and that Alanna Ubach,[22] Elisabeth Röhm, Spencer Garrett, Connie Britton, Ashley Greene, Brooke Smith, Michael Buie, Nazanin Boniadi, and Bree Condon had been cast as Jeanine Pirro, Martha MacCallum, Sean Hannity, Beth Ailes, Abby Huntsman, Irena Brigante, Bret Baier, Rudi Bakhtiar, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, respectively.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Bombshell benefits from a terrific cast and a worthy subject, but its impact is muffled by a frustrating inability to go deeper than the sensationalistic surface.

[37] Variety's Owen Gleiberman gave the film a positive review and wrote: "Bombshell is a scalding and powerful movie about what selling, in America, has become.

"[43] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "The actors throw themselves into their roles with terrific zeal, enlivened by the often blunt dialogue and the issues at stake.

"[45] Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave the film 3/4 stars, calling it "an absorbing, well-crafted chronicle of the sexual harassment accusations that forced Fox News founding CEO Roger Ailes to resign in disgrace.

"[46] Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times gave the film 2/4 stars, writing that it "went wrong"; much of it due to Charles Randolph's "cutesy screenplay ... which unfolds at a cartoony pace more suitable to a dark comedy.

Hans went on to argue that the film would have been more complete had it engaged with the "tension" between what Hans claimed were its protagonists' dual roles as perpetuators of sexism themselves, owing to their status as conservative icons as well as women harmed by a deeply sexist organization; and that by presenting the protagonists simply as sympathetic characters the film failed to make sufficient criticism of these women and their role as cogs in an organization which, in her view, espouses rightwing ideology.

[48] Linda Holmes of NPR wrote: "It has a few strong moments, mostly courtesy of Robbie, but it's both underwhelming and overworked, inelegantly structured and missing something fundamental at the core.

"[49] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal said that the film was "a movie with a compelling story to tell turns into a blunt-force polemic that can't stop hammering its message home.

"[50] In January 2020, Kelly posted a 30-minute video on her YouTube channel of a roundtable discussion, including her, Huddy, Bakhtiar, Brunt and former Fox News producer Julie Zann and their reactions and opinions after viewing a screening of the film.

The panel confirmed many details depicted, including having to do the "spin" to show off their bodies to Ailes in private; Zann tearfully noted that reality was "worse than that" and the filmmakers "let Roger off easy".