REVIEW: Miss SloaneBy Quinn OxleyDecember 12, 2016Sorry, guys, I would write the review for Miss Sloane, but I’ve still got a headache from when I first saw the film. Their bias hits you over the head pretty hard.

Elizabeth Sloane is a commanding and influential lobbyist trying to get a bill passed that requires background checks on anyone trying to purchase firearms. She’ll do whatever she has to in order to win.

The message of the film boils down to this: politicians are corrupt, and the system is broken. Even if your intentions are pure, you must pull whatever strings you can in order to get anything done. I have to applaud the film for acknowledging on a base level that perfect people don’t exist on either side of the aisle.

However, it’s no secret that Hollywood is a remarkably liberal society of artists who use their platform to influence public opinion in that direction. Anyone walking into a big-budget political thriller about gun control legislation is going to know the movie’s stance on the subject. And most probably understand that it’s going to come at them pretty heavy-handedly. This movie’s no exception, and this is news to no one.

So, then, why watch the movie, if not to experience a thought-provoking discourse on the subject at hand? To be inspired as an original character wins over her opponents? Well, yes and no. Jessica Chastain is certainly a powerhouse, and her Elizabeth Sloane is not a character found commonly in modern cinema – a driven, ruthless woman who’s always the most intelligent and calculated person in the room. That much is fascinating. There’s one problem: she’s just about the most unsympathetic, unlikeable person you’d have the misfortune of knowing. She just wants to win. Unless you’re into the gun control debate hardcore, you have no reason to root for her.

It’s Sloane’s complete lack of likeability or care for others that adds a nonsensical quality to the ending of the film. Then again, that’s not saying much, because the ending is already pretty ridiculous in its own right.

Is it good, though?

Maybe I’m just not into political thrillers. Maybe I just don’t like feeling manipulated by a movie. Maybe a lot of the dialogue just went way over my head. Chastain's performance, as well as authentic performances by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, and Jake Lacey, prop up a plot that is interesting at times, but hard to engage with. In answer to the question, I would give a resounding… eh? Kind of.

Rating: 5/10

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