Jessica Chastain plays Elizabeth Sloane, a lobbyist who gets pulled into a fight over a gun control bill in Miss Sloane, a political thriller that tries to be tense and ends up feeling heavy-handed. The movie wants to be a sharp look at Washington lobbying, but it leans too hard on its own cleverness instead of letting the story breathe.
Chastain carries the whole film on her shoulders, and she is the reason it works at all. She plays Sloane as a force of nature, a woman who moves through the halls of power with a single-minded drive that makes everyone around her uncomfortable. Her performance is the best reason to see this movie, even when the script around her starts to sag.
Trailer, via EuropaCorpUS.
Sloane’s Rise and Fall
The story follows Sloane as she jumps from one lobbying firm to another, taking on a fight against a bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases. She is approached by Rodolfo Schmidt, played by Mark Strong, the head of a rival firm, to lead the campaign against the bill. She agrees and takes most of her staff with her, except for her closest associate, Jane Molloy, played by Alison Pill.
Sloane also picks Esme Manucharian, played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, to handle the firm’s public appearances. Esme is a survivor of a school shooting, and Sloane knows it. She uses that knowledge to force Esme to reveal her past during a live television debate, a moment that sets the movie’s central conflict in motion.
The Debate That Changes Everything
The climax comes when Esme is held up at gunpoint while leaving her office. Another civilian, legally carrying a gun, shoots her attacker dead. Gun rights supporters seize on the event, and the bill loses support in the Senate. The timing could not be worse for Sloane, who is already facing a congressional hearing into her lobbying practices.
The movie builds toward this moment with real tension, but the resolution feels rushed. The attack happens quickly, the aftermath plays out fast, and the bill’s fate is settled without much room for the audience to feel the weight of it.
Chastain Carries the Weight
Chastain’s performance is the engine of the film. She plays Sloane with a ferocity that never lets up, and she makes the character’s ambition feel both terrifying and compelling. The scenes where Sloane manipulates others, both professionally and personally, are some of the best in the movie.
The supporting cast is strong, especially Mbatha-Raw as Esme and Strong as Schmidt. Their scenes together crackle with tension, and the movie would be better if it spent more time on their relationship rather than rushing to the finish.
A Familiar Shape
Miss Sloane follows a familiar shape for this kind of political thriller. A lone figure takes on a powerful institution, wins some battles, loses others, and emerges changed. The movie plays with this formula well enough, but it never quite breaks free of it.
The script is full of clever lines and set pieces, but they often feel like tricks rather than organic parts of the story. The movie is trying to be smart, and sometimes it succeeds, but the constant need to be clever wears thin.
Where It Falls Short
The problem with Miss Sloane is that it is too eager to show its own cleverness. The script keeps reaching for the next twist, the next reveal, the next surprise, without giving the audience time to sit with what has happened. The result is a film that feels more like a puzzle box than a story.
The movie also struggles with its tone. It wants to be a serious drama about politics, but it keeps leaning toward the sensational. The attack on Esme is the clearest example of this tension. It is meant to be shocking, but it lands flat because the movie has spent so much time playing with shock value that the actual moment loses its power.
The World Premiere and Release
The film had its world premiere on November 11, 2016, at the AFI Fest, and it began a limited theatrical release in the United States on November 25, 2016, through EuropaCorp. It expanded wide on December 9, 2016, and was released in France on March 8, 2017. It received generally positive reviews, with Chastain’s performance singled out as the standout.
A Solid Performance, A Shaky Script
Miss Sloane is a film that wants to be more than it is. It has a great lead performance, a solid cast, and a premise that could have carried a sharper movie. Instead, it settles for being clever and predictable, and the difference shows on screen.
| Element | Strength | Weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Jessica Chastain’s performance | Compelling, forceful | Holds the film together |
| The political setup | Familiar, well-executed | Too similar to other thrillers |
| The final act | Tense, climactic | Rushed, anticlimactic |
| Tone | Ambitious, mixed | Jumps between drama and spectacle |
The movie is not a failure, but it is not a triumph either. It is a competent thriller with a great lead performance that is let down by a script that cannot decide whether it wants to be a drama or a game of wits.
Miss Sloane is worth seeing for Chastain’s performance alone. Beyond that, it is a mixed bag of a movie that asks for more than it delivers.
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