‘All the Money’: Performances are worth every penny
The last lesson of 2017 for Hollywood: When your movie’s about to implode, lean on the proven veterans. And if available, hire a Plummer.
That All the Money in the World ( rated R; in theaters now nationwide) is being released at all is a minor miracle, thanks to the master filmmaking of Ridley Scott and a lastminute call to Christopher Plummer. Plummer spent 10 days last month redoing Kevin Spacey’s scenes after the actor’s sexual harassment scandal, and he’s a godsend playing crusty oil tycoon J. Paul Getty in the thriller based on the real-life kidnapping of Getty’s grandson. The 88-year-old thespian unleashes a remarkable, Oscar-worthy performance that sparks the watchable but routine drama.
All the more impressive is how pervasive the elder Getty is in the plot. Spacey wasn’t in just a few sequences here and there; the infamous Getty plays a constant role in the narrative surrounding the 1973 incident in which 16-year-old John Paul Getty III (played by Charlie Plummer, no relation to Christopher) is taken by criminals in Rome and held for a $17 million ransom.
The teen’s mother, Gail Harris (Michelle Williams), reaches out to the old man — and, boy, they have a history — to pony up the cash to save his grandson. But he balks, very publicly. Gail tries to convince Getty while working with his security man, Fletcher Chace (Mark Wahlberg), on a backup plan to rescue her son if the cash never comes.
There’s not a whole lot of cinematic intrigue involving the actual kidnapping. Scott paces the action well — the younger Getty is tortured but finds an ally in the group holding him — but it’s
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all pretty straightforward fare that doesn’t stick in your gut the way Plummer’s work does.
Getty’s complicated personality is the meat of the matter, and where the movie really does a good job is digging into themes of greed, family and those so rich they think of people as things. In one sequence, the audience is led to believe Getty might be negotiating to get the boy back, but he’s instead haggling over a painting.
“Everything has a price. The great struggle in life is coming to grips what that price is,” Getty says early on, and it becomes an idea most of the characters have to deal with in one form or another. Through flashbacks, Scott provides a lesson in Getty history, depicting him as someone who has all the money in the world yet would care not to spend any if he could help it — this is a guy who looks for tax deductions in everything, including his grandson’s well-being.
Given the high-profile back story,
The elder Getty’s complex personality is the meat of the matter, and where the movie really does a good job is when it digs into themes of greed, family and those so rich they think of people as things.
Money is very much a Plummer showpiece — a Golden Globe probably isn’t the only trophy he’ll be up for this awards season — yet just as integral is Williams, whose character is Getty’s biggest foil. The two actors strikingly lock horns in quite a few scenes: Getty blames his ex-daughter-in-law for taking away his heirs, and she abhors having to deal with the miser.
Whatever they’re paying those two — especially Plummer, who gets a new notch in his legend with this replacement episode — it’s not nearly enough.