Woman of the Hour movie review: Anna Kendrick’s inventive serial killer thriller takes stabs in the dark

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A still from Woman of the Hour.

Rodney Alcala had already murdered multiple women before he appeared on a 1978 episode of The Dating Game as a contestant. He is made to sit next to two other men with noticeably different personalities, separated from Sheryl by a barrier. Rodney has the most charming responses to Sheryl’s increasingly playful queries, and it doesn’t take him too long to have both her and the crowd eating out of his hand. This could’ve been the entire film. We could’ve remained inside the garish confines of the studio, the tension building, the exchanges getting more colourful.

But the movie has no interest in being experimental. Anna Kendrick keeps cutting back to Robert’s murders after every round — it’s like Slumdog Millionaire if it were directed by David Fincher. And every time we leave the show to witness another murder scene, or to follow a female audience member who appears to recognise Rodney, Kendrick effectively slits her own movie in the throat. Of course, there is a strong reason behind this structure. The movie wants you to develop a dislike for Rodney, which you wouldn’t have otherwise. By the time we hit murder number three, we’re meant to be shaking our fists at the screen, screaming at Sheryl to be careful of his tricks.

Played by the eerily effective Daniel Zovatto, Rodney is a textbook groomer. Later evidence showed that he also preyed on young girls, and might have killed more than 100 people before, spoiler alert, being arrested. He went on to be popularly known as The Dating Game Killer, and remains an object of tremendous interest in the sort of communities where people like him are studied. But Woman of the Hour doesn’t really examine him psychologically. Rodney appears to enjoy toying with his prey, and in the film’s admittedly harrowing opening scene, strangles an unsuspecting woman before reviving her, and then throttling her again.

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A still from Woman of the Hour.

Anna Kendrick has fashioned what could’ve been a formulaic serial killer movie into something of a female empowerment story, although it’s debatable if it qualifies as one. It might have one scene of violence against women too many. Her performance as Sheryl, unsurprisingly, is superior to her command over filmmaking tone. Kendrick instills in the character the same neurotic energy that she brought to her breakout role as Jessica in the Twilight movies. She has, of course, evolved tremendously since then. Woman in the Hour also works as a Substance-like showbiz satire, with the hilarious Tony Hale appearing as the obnoxious host of the reality show. But the film’s observations about both sexism and survival are rather superficial, and that’s a crying shame.

Woman of the Hour
Director – Anna Kendrick
Cast – Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale
Rating – 2.5/5