“Miss Sloane” competent, engaging…
Miss Sloane is directed by John Madden and written by Jonathan Perera. It stars Jessica Chastain, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, John Lithgow, Michael Stuhlbarg, Mark Strong, Jake Lacy, and Alison Pill.
John Madden’s Miss Sloane is fine. It executes its premise well and is extremely watchable. Everyone involved does a fine job. It doesn’t reach the heights it could or perhaps should: there’s nothing truly special about it. This is about par for the course for Madden (not to be confused with the football commentator of the same name), who is often viewed as a workmanlike filmmaker. Miss Sloane probably won’t convince anyone elsewise, but it is undeniably competent, well-paced, and entertaining.
Elizabeth Sloane (Chastain) is a ruthless, effective lobbyist working at a major D.C. firm. When she is approached by the gun lobby (no one ever says “the NRA”), about combatting new gun control legislation, Sloane decides to jump ship and join the firm supporting the bill, which requires universal background checks on firearm sales.
As you may have guessed, this is a writer’s picture, held aloft by Jonathan Perera’s screenplay and Jessica Chastain’s lead performance. First time screenwriter Perera’s script is deft and slick, fast-moving and well-researched. There are a few curious choices along the way, but everything ends up interweaving in a pretty neat design. This is not to say that there is any kind of conceptual mastery going on here, merely that the script is more clever and well-structured than most. Chastain ably carries the film. Her arc is not the most subtle, but she hits the beats well. She sells the characters brilliance and flaws in a way that is always believable. Also worth mentioning is Mark Strong, who gives a lively, funny performance as Rodolfo Schmidt, Sloane’s boss. The cast as a whole is pretty solid. The characters are well-drawn and likable, with everyone getting a memorable line or moment so as to stand out from the rest.
The film Miss Sloane most readily calls to mind is the most recent Best Picture winner Spotlight. While journalism and lobbying are obviously very different professions, the general stories and themes are similar: a team of earnest, intelligent individuals take on a massive, powerful institution in the name of a positive social cause. My preference for Spotlight may stem from the fact that it’s based on a true story. This is perhaps unfair, but Miss Sloane’s conclusion renders it something of a Hollywood fantasy, in light of the current political climate and the status of the gun control debate (it’s difficult to watch the film and not think of the defeated Manchin-Toomey Amendment from a few years back).
There are better films that deal with similar subject matter, but Miss Sloane is a solid, thoroughly enjoyable piece of filmmaking, well-written and performed, that also manages to take a political stance on a controversial issue. That’s more than you can say for a lot of Hollywood movies.
-Anthony Calamunci
