Movie Review: All the Money in the World

All the Money in the World *** / *****

Directed by: Ridley Scott.

Written by: David Scarpa based on the book by John Pearson.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg (Fletcher Chase), Michelle Williams (Gail Harris), Charlie Plummer (John Paul Getty III), Christopher Plummer (J. Paul Getty), Stacy Martin (Secretary), Andrew Buchan (John Paul Getty II), Timothy Hutton (Oswald Hinge), Romain Duris (Cinquanta).

 

You have to hand it to Ridley Scott. When he heard about the awful things Kevin Spacey was accused of – and knowing damn well that those allegations would likely kill the prospects of All the Money in the World, just two months before release, he didn’t ignore them. He didn’t give the standard statement those in Hollywood have given about those they’ve worked with accused of doing horrible things. He basically said, fuck that guy, recast his key role in the film with Christopher Plummer (who, apparently, he wanted in the first place, but the studio wanted a bigger star), reshot all of Spacey’s scenes, and released the film on schedule. That took not just guts, but skill – and Scott pulled it off brilliantly. Christopher Plummer is far and away the best thing about All the Money in the World. Unfortunately, other than him – and a fine performance by Michelle Williams – I’m not really sure the film works all that well. It’s a kidnapping thriller, yet it’s not really much of a thriller. It’s a drama about the super-rich – but I don’t think it really delves down deep enough there to make it truly insightful. I was never bored by the film – Scott is nothing if not a constant professional who knows what he’s doing, but I’m not really sure what the point behind this one was.

 

It is the early 1970s, and J. Paul Getty (Plummer) is the richest man in the world – and yet, still one of the cheapest. He is an oil magnate, who loves the power that comes with money, and things it can buy. He hasn’t had much time for his family – so little in fact, he doesn’t even know his grandkids that his son has fathered with his wife, Gail Harris (Williams). But his son is unemployed, and comes to his dad for a job – and gets it. But he’s a screw-up and a drunk, and soon a drug addict. He divorces Gail, who gets custody of the kids – even if the elder Getty had started to take a liking to John Paul the third (Charlie Plummer). A few years later, when this Getty is still a teenager, and roaming around Rome on his own, he is kidnapped. The kidnappers want $17 million. Gail doesn’t have even a fraction of that – but her ex-father-in-law does. But he’s cheap, and doesn’t want to pay a cent. What he does do is direct a former CIA agent in his employ, Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) to help Gail get her son back.

 

Christopher Plummer clearly is the best thing in this movie. His J. Paul Getty is a petty man to be sure, but he does it all with a gleam in his eye. He’s having a blast screwing over anyone and everyone he can – knowing that because he has the money, they’ll keep coming back. He lives like Charles Foster Kane in his huge estates, with art on the walls – but he has no scruples, no morals, no nothing. He likes to win, and he does all the time. The only thing that keeps Plummer from completely walking away with the movie is Williams, who is nearly his equal as Gail Harris. She grew up rich, but her family doesn’t have their money anymore – but she does know her way around this world. She does a great job putting up a tough face whenever she needs to, and is the only one who can go toe-to-toe with her father in law and win – and that’s because she’s the only one who doesn’t care for his money.

 

This movie really should be better than it is – it certainly sounds better in that last paragraph, and when you factor in gunfights with kidnaps, and Mark Wahlberg as a CIA agent, it should be fun, right? But the kidnapping part of things never really goes anywhere. They try and establish a bond between the younger Getty and one of the kidnappers – but it doesn’t really work. Wahlberg seems out of place for most of the movie – he doesn’t get to punch anyone after all (I don’t know who first observed this – but it’s true – it seems more like Wahlberg was the one edited into this movie at the last minute, not Plummer – as I spent the movie wondering what exactly he was doing there).

 

Overall, the film works, when it’s concentrated on Plummer or Williams, and not really if it’s one anyone or anything else. True, Scott knows how to direct this type of movie well – and he does a good job here as well. And yet, the film just kind of runs its course, and never quite reaches takeoff altitude. You have to admire it for pulling off what it did – and yet, still be slightly disappointed it didn’t pull off even more.