Naomi Watts was the true star of The Loudest Voice with her portrayal of Gretchen Carlson

Salon.com

Much of the media attention was focused on Russell Crowe and his prosthetic makeup that made him look like Roger Ailes. Yet it was Watts who was the real triumph of the Showtime limited series, says Allen Barra. "She makes only brief appearances in the first four episodes, but in the final three, having entered the story as if through a side door, she takes over the story," he says. "Her suppressed anger over Ailes’s hand on her a** or 'asking' for her to do a 'Miss America twirl' is all the more powerful because we don’t sympathize with her, but we do come to empathize. And if we don’t feel elation at Carlson’s eventual overthrow of Ailes, we at least feel a sense of vindication." Watts, he adds, "is still a leading lady at age 50, and in Carlson’s emotional breakdown scenes isn’t afraid to let the camera come in close and see the lines on her face. She’s well matched against her old friend Russell Crowe and knows how to grab a scene by purring to his roar. In the end, the battle in The Loudest Voice is won by the actor with the softest and most nuanced voice."