What "Woman of the Hour" is going for isn’t some ultimate period-piece authenticity. It’s trying to deconstruct television, along with the male aggression that can descend into violence, and to show you how they work together.

Anna McKibbin of the AV Club gives Woman of the Hour a B, calling the director’s debut effort “ambitious,” as she’s not satisfied to simply gesture toward the magnitude of misogyny. In McKibbin’s words:

The main reason for that is Anna Kendrick, who makes a formidable, clear-eyed directorial debut in addition to playing Bradshaw. Using plenty of her own career experiences, Kendrick presents Bradshaw’s story as a grimly common one of pervasive,