Woman of the Hour is the directorial debut of Anna Kendrick, based on the real-life serial killer who found himself on a 1978 episode of The Dating Game. With Anna Kendrick also starring as Cheryl Bradshaw, the dating show contestant, and Daniel Zovatto as the killer Rodney Alcala, Woman of the Hour is a very promising debut for Kendrick behind the camera.
Woman of the Hour does the interesting thing of splitting its time between its main characters. Cheryl and Rodney have their own storylines that lead to their fateful meeting on The Dating Game. This allows us to go into this moment in time knowing the full weight and stakes of their circumstances. We learn just enough about them to get through the story without diving too deep into things unnecessary to the plot. Rodney is in the middle of his crime spree while Cheryl is trying to break her way into Hollywood. It’s a good example of how one moment in life can alter the rest of a person’s life.
The thing is the meeting on the dating show isn’t framed as the climax of the movie and Cheryl really isn’t our protagonist. The story really is about how Rodney got caught, and his crimes leading up to it. It is interesting to pose the story this way when the marketing made it seem like Cheryl would be his next victim and be the one who must stop him when in reality, she’s just a blip on his radar. There’s nothing wrong with the misdirection, I personally think it makes the movie more interesting as a whole that it subverted my expectations.
I will say, for a first-time director, Kendrick does a great job creating tension when she needs to. There’s a scene that’s close to the end with Cheryl and Rodney that perfectly creates real-world terror that doesn’t need to use any jump scares or any sound cues to get its point across. It’s not a movie trying to scare you, rather it’s painting a picture of a real-life event and allowing us to feel the feelings we would feel in those moments. It’s not an easy task and far more experienced directors struggle at it, so it is encouraging that it seemed like a strong suit for her. Outside of the tension, she brings her natural charm and quirks both behind the camera and in front of it, and it was refreshing to see in a movie that tackled such a depressing story.
Some moments did feel unnecessary in the grand scheme of the movie, however. There is a character who is introduced at the taping of the show who really doesn’t serve that much of a purpose to the story besides revealing that she thinks Rodney killed one of her friends. Nothing else she does serves the story in a productive way and unless I am missing her real-world counterpart’s contribution, I think she could’ve had a more limited role.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Woman of the Hour is a good debut film for Anna Kendrick. It is an interesting framing of the true story and it delivered a fascinating story. It’s out on Netflix now and it’s a good tense watch for those who don’t want to watch anything super vulgar and graphic this spooky season.
3/5
