As many of you know: Kevin Spacey got the boot from Ridley Scott’s “All the Money in the World,” because of the sexual allegations aimed against him. The trailer and poster already showed us him playing J. Paul Getty, the richest man in the world, but at the last minute and with an extra budget of $10 million, they got Christopher Plummer to play him.
I’d like to see what it would look like if they kept Spacey, but Plummer gives one of his best performances I’ve ever seen. Even if this change-up was rushed, it still works out well.
It’s the true story about how Getty’s teenage grandson John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer-no relation) got kidnapped, and his grandfather refused to pay the ransom.
Years before the kidnapping, his mother Gail Harris (Michelle Williams) divorces her drug addict husband (Andrew Buchan), Getty’s son, with only full custody of the kids, and wants no money. She’s not like her father-in-law, and when she learns about her son’s kidnapping, she’s even more shocked to know her father-in-law would pay nothing for his release.
Mark Wahlberg plays Getty’s deal-making attorney Fletcher Chase, who helps Gail find her son back, and finds out from the kidnappers that the young lad used to joke about being kidnapped. And then the kidnappers sell him to an investor. Chase now tells Getty he has to pay the ransom.
“All the Money in the World” is a great looking and well-acted crime drama that works out a lot better than Scott’s 2013 dog “The Counsellor.” It’s a non-irritating portrait about how money is greed, and the movie shows us moments that may seem like the kidnapping will be over soon, but they’re just too good to be true. And not only does Plummer steal the show as J. Paul Getty, but you also get some nice work from Williams, Wahlberg, and the young Plummer.
There are a few moments that lag a bit, and I don’t think we need to see the part where the boy’s ear gets spliced off, but the movie explodes with the right intensity.
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
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