Review of Miss Sloane (2016) by Spangle — 04 Apr 2017

Meet Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain). A lobbyist is a person paid to convince members of congress, via whatever means necessary as long as it is legal (or not), to vote for a specific issue or cause. This is what Elizabeth does. Working 16 hour days, taking uppers to stay awake, and downers to go to sleep, Miss Sloane approaches her work as a surgeon would approach an operation. She is precise, detailed, intricate, and armed to the teeth with knowledge. However, this is only in her mind. To others, she appears to be a drunk driver weaving between lanes going 75 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Yet, every move is calculated. When she gets offered a chance to promote anti-gun legislation, it is an offer she cannot refuse as it an issue she actually cares about. As such, everything is on the table to win, even her career.

In a powerhouse performance, Jessica Chastain stars as this DC lobbyist that is capable of swaying public opinion with the flick of her wrist and making politicians jump when she says jump. Every misstep is merely a calculated move to distract the opposition and she is always prepared for how to react to any countermove by the enemy. It is as if this were a book she had read before and was merely going through the motions of re-reading it to re-live the moment. Having developed a penchant for playing these tough-minded female leads, Chastain lifts the film up and breathes life into what is a pretty typical political thriller. Without her bravura performance, this film would certainly struggle. Yet, her portrayal as a woman willing to be commit career suicide in order to actually experience a normal life having made a positive impact on the world, is a nuanced and precise performance. Though Elizabeth appears emotionless and calculated at all times, she is a deeply troubled woman. She has no idea where the line between good and bad is mostly prescribed to the philosophical belief that "the ends justifies the means". Yet, she is also deeply unhappy. It takes a truly brilliant performance to evoke this feeling without actually expressing it, yet her brutal antihero has just the right tinge of emotional vulnerability to make her sympathetic. She is seen as heartless and cruel, but in moments with prostitute Robert Ford (Jake Lacy), we see that she is not some black pit of emotion. In her private moments, she longs for a normal life and love, a world where she is not attacked for just being.

In its plotting, Miss Sloane can play out a bit predictably, but is always captivating. With some whip smart lines in its back pocket, the gun control battle is always center stage with Miss Sloane and her colleagues fighting against her former employers in the battle. Always having some trick up her sleeve to pull off the impossible, the film is entertaining political thriller that can often feel like a mystery with how it keeps the viewer guessing as to what trick she will pull next. Is this moment intentional and part of the plan or did she get caught off-guard and was forced to react quickly? While no political thriller is ever truly original, Miss Sloane's blending of the genre with mystery and this superhero-esque character with nary a flaw in her career and operating weeks ahead of the competition, makes the film's plotting captivating and thoroughly engaging.

Yet, this film is undoubtedly a character study. As much as it is about gun control, Miss Sloane - for nearly an hour and fifty minutes - refuses to grandstand. It is reserved and never loses sight of its central character. Cases are made for and against gun control and the audience roots for Miss Sloane and the gun control cause, purely because the film is written in such a way that she is the good guy. As an antihero, however, we see her flaws and her downsides and nearly wind up hoping she gets convicted by the Senate Ethics Committee because we have seen her willingly break the law, but cover her ass. Her brilliance is admirable, but entirely reprehensible with how it skirts around legislation. In essence, she is no better than a mercenary and fights for whoever pays her the most. Yet, gun control - for reasons unknown - speaks to her heart. Willing to work for whatever to make it a reality, this issue being the one that breaks her cold, black heart is a politically timely move in the present world we live in, but also one that speaks to her character's past. She denies having been touched by gun violence and does not reference it, but it is clear that there was something that made her realize that this was "the" issue for her. Something made it click in her mind that this was a cause she had to fight for, no matter what the NRA offered her in return for fighting for them. It is quite admirable and shows that she has a heart (regardless of your personal stance on gun control), as she cares deeply about some issue and its impact on everyday Americans. They are not just data points. They are means to an end.