All the Money in the World - Movie Review

I have been seeing trailers for All the Money in the World for months now. It has been one of the most hyped films of the year. Surprisingly, less than two months ago, controversy broke around the film. One of the stars, Kevin Spacey (who plays J. Paul Getty), was alleged to have propositioned a teenage boy many years ago. Ridley Scott chose to re-shoot all of the J. Paul Getty scenes (which is not an insignificant amount of film) with Christopher Plummer as Getty. It was a gamble, but they managed to get the film out in time for Christmas.

I was fairly young when Paul Getty (Charlie Plummer) was kidnapped in 1973. I barely recall the events, as they dominated the news at the time. And there wasn't much else on during the six o'clock time frame. News, news and news. Getty was the grandson and namesake of J. Paul Getty (Plummer) who was one of the richest men in the world. Getty made his fortune in the oil industry. He was also notoriously frugal with his money. When his grandson was kidnapped, he refused to pay the 17 million dollar ransom. His reasoning was that he did not want to create a dangerous precedent for his other grandchildren. That was probably not flawed reasoning, in the greater scheme of things. But it was more probable that he didn't want to part with any of his massive fortune.

The film brought several elements of the real story to light. I wanted to fact check the film because I was curious about several of the characters. There was a sympathetic kidnapper who appeared to run static between the sixteen-year-old hostage, the other kidnappers and the Getty's It appears that Cinquanto (Romain Duris) is based on a real person. Fletcher Chase (Mark Wahlberg) was also based on a real character, although the film version was far more competent than the real CIA-agent turned hostage negotiator. In real life, the CIA agent nearly cost the young Getty his life. The hero of the film, Gail Getty (Michelle Williams) likewise was much of a bystander in the negotiation process. The film captured many details in a way that kept the film moving without bogging down in details. Knowing that much of the film was rooted in reality improved my impression of the film.

All the Money in the World is an interesting biopic. There were some liberties taken, like the death of J Paul Getty coinciding with the recovery of his grandson. The elder Getty died three years later, believing the entire time that the kidnapping had been staged. The story had decent pacing, but was a bit choppy at times. I wonder if that choppiness might have been a product of the reshoot, or possibly from rushing to cut the film together after the delays caused by the reshoot. Either way, the subject was moderately interesting, but not necessarily engaging. The choppiness of the film also bothered me. But all in all, it wasn't a bad film. But it could have been better.

At two hours and twelve minutes, All the Money in the World was a tad bit long. It felt it. The ending took a while to wrap up, causing it to be a bit anti-climactic. I would have preferred a shorter, tighter cut. The film was rated R by the MPAA. There is a graphic scene where the young Getty's ear is removed by his captors. It is a bit disturbing. There was a very brief nude scene, some language elements and violence that contributed to the rating. This film is better suited to teenage audiences or older.

All the Money in the World was a decent movie. It was a bit choppy and the ending a bit drawn out. I think the replacement of Spacey with Plummer may have had an effect on the end product. The film works fine with Plummer as Getty. But the choppiness felt sloppy at times. The story is moderately interesting, but not a story I would have sought out to make a film about. I enjoyed the movie, but could have waited to see it on video. 7/10.