A whistleblower with a populist message and a conventional if not lackluster ending, Miss Sloane, by first-time screenwriter Jonathan Perera, is rife with cynicism and finger-pointing.
It’s a behind-the-scenes drama about a notorious and successful Washington lobbyist who pushes, bends, and stretches ethical boundaries to achieve victory, making it red meat for the red and blue states, provided the average moviegoer is willing to sit through the maze-like inner workings of our democracy.
Directed by John Madden. Screenplay by Jonathan Perera. A FilmNation Entertainment release playing at Fallen Timbers and Levis Commons. Rated R for language and some sexuality. Running time: 132 min..
Critic’s rating: ★★★
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alison Pill, John Lithgow
Lobbyists are devoid of scruples when it comes to advancing their causes on Capitol Hill, and politicians are easily coerced, particularly when a lobbyist’s support significantly aids their re-election chances. The most important job to those voted into power, the film tells us, is to maintain that power.
OFFICIAL TRAILER: ‘Miss Sloane’
What drives this film is Jessica Chastain’s riveting performance as the frosty and ruthless Elizabeth Sloane, a lobbyist who sacrifices anything and everyone to win, which makes her the best in the business.
The NRA even hired her firm specifically to work with her: The powerful gun lobby wants to recruit more women — specifically moms — to its cause and knows that no one could advance that cause better than Sloane.
She’s flattered but counters that she’s leaving to work for a nonprofit agency working to push Congress to pass a bill to enforce stricter background checks on firearm sales.
To her bosses at the old firm, George Dupont (Sam Waterston) and Pat Connors (Michael Stuhlbarg), it’s a betrayal and career suicide, and with the help of Sloane’s right-hand woman, Jane Molloy (Alison Pill), they plan to go after her.
For Sloane, though, the new gig and cause is personal: She supports the bill’s passage (the film teases there’s a personal reason but never explains what that is) and also clearly relishes the David vs. Goliath aspect to this challenge.
To win, she'll employ methods that bother and later infuriate her new boss, Rodolfo Schmidt (Mark Strong), who himself employed unusual methods to recruit her to his agency. We know things won’t go well for Sloane, either, since the film is framed with flashbacks to her lobbying efforts — including her willingness to use a colleague (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) with a tragic connection to guns — as she testifies before an Congressional investigation committee into a possible breach of ethics.
Miss Sloane is a one-sided film with a well-rounded warts-and-all protagonist who’s made great personal sacrifices to her career and her causes. She takes pills to maintain her energy level through grueling days that extend well into the night — her doctor warns her to get out of the business before she dies — and procures the services of a male escort for her carnal needs. She may be cold to co-workers, but she still has late-night urges.
Chastain is so good at the steely-eye determinism of Sloane, in the believability of what she does, and in making us understand why she does it, that the character is likable and even relatable despite her repugnant win-at-all-cost methods.
As Sloane’s morally centered boss who knows to win this war he must be prepared to fight with the same tenacity (and questionable tactics) as his enemy, Strong is the embodiment of anyone who’s faced that ethical question: What are you prepared to do to win? It’s a nuanced performance in a surprisingly nuanced role.
The bad guys, of course, are less subtle, their motives easy to dislike.
Congressman Sperling (John Lithgow), who’s a critical vote to either side of the gun issue is, perhaps, too easily swayed, though Lithgow makes the character more interesting onscreen than he is on paper. Dupont is also questionably one-sided as is Connors as is their antagonism to Sloane. At least her former assistant, Molloy, has her reasons, selfish as they may be.
Poking at the NRA is an easy target. Miss Sloane would have felt less like an agenda-driven story if it had used a lesser-known lobbying group as its target.
Still, as an autopsy of our political system, Miss Sloane feels authentic, though Perera’s sharp, grandiose dialogue can be too rat-a-tat perfect to ring true, the witty one-liners as distracting as they are clever.
Miss Sloane director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) also does his best not to get in the way of the film’s agenda, though the script could have used his help. Its plot is thick and difficult to follow at times, especially when insider terms are casually tossed around like baseballs in a game of father-son catch.
And despite its cynical nature, the film, after a few twists, takes a rather predictable course, one that seems incongruent with its anti-establishment message.
The system needs to change, Miss Sloane says, but only in a tidy, audience-pleasing way.
Contact Kirk Baird at kbaird@theblade.com or 419-724-6734.
First Published December 9, 2016, 5:00 a.m.