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Netflix’s Woman of the Hour Makes a Wild True Story Feel Dry and Academic
Anna Kendrick shows some promise as a director, and the film’s real-life serial-killer story is insane. But the whole film feels a bit too careful.
The actress, known primarily for her lively work in comedies and musicals, also stars in the film, as aspiring performer Cheryl Bradshaw, a Columbia grad whom we first meet during what appears to be a botched audition. It’s all based on a totally insane true story: Alcala was a serial killer and rapist for over a decade in New York and California, and right in the middle of his unbelievable crime spree — after his appearance on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List and two stints in prison — he popped up on the legendary dating show. Structuring the film around The Dating Game, where Cheryl is treated largely as a piece of meat by everyone (including the smug host, played with oily, soothing skeeziness by Tony Hale), might make for an intriguing thematic ploy, but it also settles the picture into a rote, dry cadence, as the story starts to feel overdetermined.
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