Miss Sloane (2016)

Review

132min

Genre:       Drama

Director:    John Madden

Cast:         Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw…and more

Writer:      Jonathan Perera

-Synopsis-

A tenacious and talented young Washington lobbyist takes on the powerful and influential gun lobby in a battle to pass gun control legislation, a dirty fight destined to produce casualties, but one which she is determined to win at any cost in this political thriller from the director of ‘Mrs Brown’ and ‘Shakespeare in Love’.

After building career defined by period romances and comedy/dramas, British director John Madden teams up with novice screenwriter Jonathan Perera and one of this generation’s most talented leading ladies—throwing her into the political minefield of Washington ‘special interests’ and giving us his two cents on the divisive American debate on gun control, in the form a taught and twisting political drama.

Jessica Chastain stars as ruthless superstar D.C. lobbyist ‘Elizabeth Sloane’; a workaholic executive representing the interests of big-business in Washington, who makes a spectacular u-turn when asked to oppose a gun control bill by leading a campaign to “get women into guns”—jumping ship from her blue-chip firm to join ‘Rodolfo Schmidt’s’ (Mark Strong) smaller rival group, determined to pass the bill and turn it into law. But her new colleagues are soon introduced to her manipulative and uncompromising nature, with the casualties of this political battle beginning to pile up, as she walks a low ethical path to gain higher moral ground over the power-players in a corrupt system.

Making a film that directly tackles the issue of gun control and advocates for it in modern America is a bold move by any measure, even in a town and industry with an overwhelmingly liberal slant. On the one hand it may seem to tackle a subject which for most outsiders seems cut-and-dry and long overdue for an overhaul, but on the other hand it may come off as paying ethical lip service to an issue that’s been oversimplified by the media, and perhaps fails to grasp the social complexities of this young country and its distinct history—not to mention the fierce relationship that many Americans seem to have with their unalienable rights . . . or at least their perception of them.

As such Madden and Perera focus on the political intricacies of the issue, crafting a sort of Hollywood-style Washington exposé on how things really get done in the capital and why passing new firearms legislation is such an uphill struggle. Yet ‘Miss Sloane’ is just as much a character piece about a fierce fictional persona which represents the often unseen forces which shape the country— making the film both a liberal dreamscape where the quagmire of gun control gets unravelled, and a window unto the sobering realities of US politics, where government is as beholden to big business as it is to the majority of people which it supposedly represents.

‘Miss Sloane’ is certainly packed with plenty of intrigue within a narrative driven by manipulation and deception, with major plot twists including a huge one during the film’s grandstanding and rather ludicrous (but entertaining) finale. The story is built on the popular but slightly naive image of Washington as a cesspool filled exclusively with corrupt senators and congressmen, and it comments (albeit superficially) on the social complexities of the gun control issue and the media’s role in it, but there’s never any doubt about which side of the debate it stands on.

Despite it being a reasonably captivating human drama and eye-opening political thriller for some, although over simplistic and rather fanciful for others, ‘Miss Sloane’ would be a decent but forgettable film were it not for one major factor—Jessica Chastain. This film’s star is also in reality the entire show here, with Chastain delivering a towering performance in bringing to life a formidable and progressive, yet slightly tragic character—an obsessive unstoppable woman who pays the personal price for being a corporate and political high-flyer with something of a conscience, and who ultimately becomes a social martyr for her troubles.

Given the complexities of its subject matter and the nuances of the murky corporate-political underworld which it glossily depicts, ‘Miss Sloane’ might have worked better as a more expansive TV show along the lines of the Glenn Close series ‘Damages’, which was likely a major influence on this film—but there are enough twists and turns to make this a fairly captivating if rudimentary introduction to political lobbying and the American gun control debate, and a solid character piece thanks to the efforts of its talented leading lady.

The Bottom Line…

Jessica Chastain delivers a tour-de-force to add to her expanding collection of impressive performances, elevating this intriguing yet simplistic meditation on the gun control debate and glossy introduction to the dark world of Washington lobbying—all wrapped-up in a fairly captivating character drama and political thriller, with enough twists and misdirection to just about hold your attention throughout.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

The Insider (1999)

Russell Crowe stars as a research chemist whose life is thrown into turmoil after he decides to expose the nefarious activities of the Big Tobacco companies on national television, drawing the ire of Washington’s power-players in this whistleblower drama from director Michael Mann.

Directed by Michael Mann and starring Russell Crowe, Al Pacino and Christopher Plummer among others.

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