Miss Sloane is a long film about government lobbying whose second half is better than its first half.

Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) upsets her bosses when she turns down the gun lobby and jumps ship to a rival firm who is supporting a bill to expand background checks for gun purchases.

Her actions causes a split between her team, some of whom go with her to the new firm and those who decide to stay behind. Sloane is driven and smart. She anticipates what might be thrown at her as her group attempts to get senate support for the bill.

The film has a dual narrative as it starts with a senate investigation looking to misconduct in her part which we return to as the film progresses.

Jessica Chastain gives a strong performance as Miss Sloane, tough as nails and someone who is prepared to trample on her colleagues. She will do whatever it takes as a lobbyist to succeed.

The film has a long running time and it starts off rather sludgedly like it is another film about political lobbyists and the games they play but it gets more fascinating as it goes on.

"Miss Sloane" is a French/American English-language movie from 2016 that managed a solid deal of awards attention, including a Golden Globe nomination for lead actress Jessica Chastain. Other known actors in here are probably Waterston, Pill, Lithgow, Baranski, Stuhlbarg and Strong, but eventually the only one it is about is Chastain's character. It is a really long movie at comfortably more than 2 hours and the focus here is on lobbyism in the United States. We follow the battle between two groups and it is all about gun restrictions here. I am not American, so I guess I can give a fairly neutral observation here and honestly I was shocked by how simple and uninspired this film turned out to be. I am sure it is a feast for everybody who supports more gun restrictions, so most liberals/democrats will have a great time watching it. But it is so black-and-white really. The characters with the exception of Chastain's have absolutely no depth at all. We find out about pretty much nobody from the liberal camp except Raw's character, so the focus won't shift away from Chastain. And of course she knows everything, she predicts everything correctly, she is the shining figure for one party etc. It is fairly cringeworthy.

On the other side, the opponents, the villains, they are depicted as stubborn old men, stupid, antiquated in their beliefs and really incapable of anything creative. The exception is of course Stuhlbarg's character with his age and they say on some occasions that he is pretty effective in what he does, but when we saw his weak performance at the television debate (nice cameo by Dylan Baker though),it was clear that nobody from the writing staff wanted to make this an equal fight really. Oh yeah and then there is the ending. All predicted by Miss Sloane again too. What the other side would do, what story they would find, how corrupt they would be etc. It is pretty cringeworthy. The big showdown at the court room when she waits a bit until she says she still has something to say before she goes all in on Lithgow's character and of course she is the big winner again, even if she has to go to jail in exchange for her victory. But yeah, they show her leave jail in the very last scene, so they really wanted to make sure we get a happy ending somehow with her in freedom and the old filth in jail. Sigh.

This film may seem deep or relevant, but that's really only how the untrained eye perceives it. Neutral observers will be embarrassed by the simple structures, the ridiculous plot lines, the over-the-top unauthentic drama moments (the almost shooting of the Black woman) and then the truly cringeworthy ending. As if the "spectacular" revelation about Pill's character wasn't bad enough already, everything that happens afterward is really just the icing on the cake. It is a very rotten cake I would say. The overall outcome of this film was surprisingly bad to me. Only the easily entertained will see this as a good politics thriller. Oscar nominee John Madden (the director of Best Picture winner "Shakespeare in Love") did not get me curious here at all about the rest of his body of work and I don't think I have seen a lot from him, if anything at all. But then again he probably isn't even the problem. The huge problem here may be writer Jonathan Perera and it very much shows during these 130 minutes that this is his very first writing credit. I wish they could have gotten somebody better here, then this movie really could have made a difference in my opinion. The cast includes some really talented guys and actors I like quite a lot. But it turned out a missed opportunity as this is so bad at time that I would almost call it liberal propaganda. Closer to one star out of five than to three stars out of five. Highly not recommended.

In Washington D. C., the lobbyist Madeline Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) decides to move to a minor agency owned Rodolfo Vittorio Schmidt (Mark Strong) as a challenge in her successful career. While facing the Powers That Be, she has to prove her competency paying a high-cost.

"Miss Sloane" is one of the best thrillers recently released by the Cinema Industry. The powerful story and screenplay has complex dialogs and the magnificent Jessica Chastain in the lead role. This is the type of film that deserves to be watched more than once. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Armas na Mesa" ("Weapons on the Table")