Miss Sloane (2016)

Directed by John Madden. Starring Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sam Waterston, Jake Lacy, Alison Pill, John Lithgow, David Wilson Barnes, Chuck Shamata, Raoul Bhaneja, Meghann Fahy. [R]

Fictional story of Chastain’s titular lobbyist leaving her firm in order to fight the gun lobby’s efforts to squash a gun control bill. Sloane is portrayed as someone who’ll do whatever it takes to win—including betray the trust of her colleagues—and whose own personal issues would make her an easy target for the opposition should the truth get out, but since her opposition is the (unnamed) NRA and groundless “Constitutionalists”, the scales are still tipped in her favor as far as rooting interest is concerned…unless the viewer happens to be a “gun nut” his or herself. Too often adopts a sensationalistic approach, as if the filmmakers were worried “every day” cutthroat lobbyist tactics aren’t enough of a dramatic grabber, and Sloane is a much harder read in her down time than when she’s on the attack professionally (a sub-plot involving regular sessions with a male sex worker—er, “escort”—comes off as unnatural and largely pointless…except maybe to demonstrate that real “whores” are more ethical than political ones?). Remains watchable, if not quite gripping, because of the melodramatic pull of its hot-button topic and Chastain’s customarily arresting performance, but comes perilously close to self-destructing in the last fifteen minutes with an infuriatingly dumb and far-fetched “gotcha” reveal at the end of the congressional hearing framing device. Dylan Baker and Christine Baranski make brief appearances.

55/100