Miss Sloane **** (2016, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, John Lithgow, Gugu Mbatha-Raw) – Movie Review

First-class movie, gripping and involving, Chastain excellent.

Director John Madden’s political power-broker thriller is a first-class high-stakes movie. A movie for grown-ups, i t is unusually gripping, involving and satisfying.

Jessica Chastain is excellent as the most sought after and formidable lobbyist in Washington DC. Now she takes on the most powerful opponent of her career. She has got the biggest sting in a nest of vipers.

Sole writer Jonathan Perera keeps his first screenplay on track, keeping it tense and relevant for its long. lean running time of 132 minutes. His slightly showy, literate script, full of good line, characters and situations, is an actor’s paradise. Madden flatters both the script and the actors, clearly relishing both, keeping his movie sleek and slick.

Also enjoying themselves in eye-catching turns are Mark Strong as Rodolfo Schmidt, John Lithgow as Congressman Ron M Sperling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Esme Manucharian, Christine Baranski as Evelyn Sumner, Michael Stuhlbarg as Pat Connors and Sam Waterston as George Dupont. It is a very good, slightly quirky cast.

Chastain keeps her performance fairly low key while burning bright and intense, in it for the long haul. Lithgow has a particularly showy role at the film’s climax that he relishes. It’s a bit hammy but it works well.

Perera started writing it when he was 30 and living in Asia, and it was produced two years later. You don’t necessarily have to believe it all to find it entertaining. The weak title is about the only thing that needs changing.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Movie Review

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