Review of Miss Sloane (2016) by Ben L — 10 Nov 2017

I love movies like Miss Sloane where we are introduced to a character who is smarter than everyone else in the room. Jessica Chastain is brilliant as this amazing lobbyist who has extreme amounts of determination and drive that propel her to being the best at what she does.

There are so many instances where we see her controlling a room, and making a point of being 5 steps ahead of everyone else. There are also a lot of twists and turns in this story, because we are rarely filled in on the plan, so we get surprised by it just as much as the people around Miss Sloane.

The struggle I have with a story like this is that it feels like the logic breaks down a bit when I start thinking things through. When I trace back the steps of what she has worked out in some of these scenarios and how far in advance she has planned, I find myself questioning how she could have arranged all the minutiae needed to make the pieces perfectly fall into place.

Although strangely, instead of feeling like there were deep flaws in the story, I find myself just wanting to watch it all again to see if I can make sense of it. Frankly, even if it falls apart like a house of cards under closer scrutiny, I still think Miss Sloane is well worth watching just for the thrill of all the little surprises in the plot.

Even if you see some of them coming in advance (which I did) you still get a satisfying rush watching it all play out. The more I reflect on it the more I want to watch it again, which is a really good sign, so you should check it out as well!