YNMS: "All The Money In The World"
Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 8:00AM 
Chris here. This year is going to have quite a bit of late breaking Oscar hopefuls based on fact, including Steven Spielberg's The Post (is that what it's called today?) and maybe a Clint Eastwood film about a true life thwarted terrorist attack in France. Ridley Scott is looking to quickly bounce back from the tepid response to Alien: Covenant with a real story of his own that wrapped a mere month ago: All the Money In The World. The film follows the famous Getty kidnapping and cruel patriarch J. Paul Getty's refusal to fork out the ransom dough.
Don't expect to hear "unrecognizable" dubbed just to Gary Oldman this year for Darkest Hour - this film is going hard on selling/taunting us Kevin Spacey as the billionaire in heavy prosthetics. We'll see if this ends up being a supporting or lead actor play, but might the film have awards chances elsewhere? Is it enough of a showcase for Michelle Williams to break through a stacked Best Actress race as the mother of the kidnapped younger Getty?
The film is set to close AFI Fest and opens December 8. Take a look at the new trailer and we'll break down the Yes No Maybe So...
YES
- This isn't supposed to be the takeaway here, but COSTUMES! Period glamor! Woolens! Wigs!
- We're always there for Michelle Williams and it's a bit of relief that Scott seems to be asking for subtlety from her here and not the histrionic mother.
- Charlie Plummer plays the kidnapped John Paul Getty III and is set to be one of the year's major breakthroughs. He just got raves for Lean on Pete at the Venice Film Festival and won the Marcello Mastroianni Prize for young performers.
- As much as Ridley Scott comes back to science fiction, this kind of film really is his sweet spot.
NO
- Ridley Scott remains our preeminent scholar in color desaturation. This film looks like it has the flu. (Apologies to the film's DP Dariusz Wolski)
- Call me crazy, but I still see Spacey in that face-y. Maybe best if they don't push the "unrecognizable" angle too hard.
- And we would really like to see Spacey break the mold of his recent snearing titans.
- Why rush a film like this when it would make a nice spring antidote instead? Methinks this one will have to work overtime or get outright raves to jump out of the pack in a very heavy December.
- "Time of the Season" : period pieces :: florals : spring.
MAYBE SO
- With Scott's recent creative ups and downs, something straight down the middle in the American Gangster vein might not be a bad idea.
- Sometimes less Mark Wahlberg pays off.
- Will audiences remember the Getty kidnapping?
This is currently a NO for me, but what are your thoughts?
Reader Comments (42)
I found the trailer a bit messy much like Scott's recent output,I like Williams but ANOTHER fraught mom doesn't inspre me and Spacey looks like Bette Midler in For The Boys,a NO unless it's raved about.
Maybe/No depending on reviews. I'm a no right now.
No thank you. I've had a distaste for Scott since that whole Gods and Kings fiasco, am largely apathetic toward Williams and Wahlberg, and believe that Spacey has become such a parody of himself that he's virtually irredeemable. Even if this gets stellar reviews, I'd be reticent to see it voluntarily.
that's a real diva entrance for spacey - zoom in, sunglasses off, ready for his closeup...
i'm fascinated by this story and michelle seems to be up to the task - i'm a definite yes
This seems to have a funny tone to it. I can't put my finger on what the issue is.
Leaning towards no
i'm a no but i lol'd at your devil wears prada joke
What are you guys on?! This is a great trailer. I have high hopes and at the very least it's great counter programming to all the uber serious pure oscar bait flicks that will be coming out that time of year.
it looks fine. Ridley Scott movies are really always a dice roll. Im in though, Im a fan of the three principles (and am always pleased to see Wahlberg take more serious roles) and the plot itself is intriguing. Spacey does need to take a break from the miserly bastards hes been portraying but....damn is he good at it.
kris: He's ALWAYS been good at the miserly bastards. Since...Glengarry Glen Ross and Swimming with Sharks. I would not be surprised if someone does a version of A Christmas Carol with him eventually.
It started bad already with a teaser before the trailer (why?). The guy telling the story sounds like Tommy Wiseau. That make-up makes Spacey look like a blobfish and zero Wahlberg is enough Wahlberg.
Depending on the reviews I'll wait and watch this on a plane.
MMinDC
Williams looks good here, but I'm so over Spacey (the closet case routine is just offensive at this point) and Wahlberg (who is a good actor, but his off-screen persona and playing the same hyper-masculine tough guy is exhausting), that I'm a Maybe. It'll inevitably become an Oscar contender, though, so I suppose it'l be a yes out of OCD.
John T: I have no horse in the stupid, stupid gossip race of "is Kevin Spacey gay".
Everyone else: I'm leaning no, and I'm really hoping for this to get shut out. For a role that seems this quiet, you'd think they'd prefer an older looking actor, to make the acting seem more impressive, as opposed to slaughtered by the prosthetic makeup.
I like True Crime, and I like Family Dynamics, so I'm a "Yes". It doesn't "look" interesting (the 70's had color, too), but it sounds interesting.
Why didn't they cast an actor in his 80's? Insurance, maybe?
I think Williams is going to win supporting now. It looks like the right size (borderline leading/supporting) of the role, the right timing (fifth nomination) and right age (just before 40).
I'm a Yes just because Michelle Williams gets top billing from Wahlberg AND Spacey, and the girl deserves her own star vehicule, and i really didn't expect to see her in that type of role so i'm really curious.
But i don't trust Ridley Scott anymore (even The Martian was not that good in my opinion) and, as you, said, the color palette is soooooo depressing... It looks like Body of Lies (meeeeeeh) with a lead actress i just admire (yeaaaah) so i'm 50/50.
PS : i'm really not impressed with Kevin Spacey's awful make-up, and i'm so tired of the "unrecognizable" advertising...
Al Pacino would be a much better choice
cal: Ooh, that could have been GOOD. Scott's never worked with Pacino, and it'd have been interesting to see what they could have done together.
I don't get the reason behind making actors unrecognizable. If you didn't want Kevin Spacey to look like Kevin Spacey, then why not just get a different actor?
A yes for me.
Although Ridley Scott's last few movies have pretty much left me cold, the beauty and clarity of the direction have me shaking my head in admiration.
For me, it's the story and casting that haven't worked. The direction is fabulous.
Too many men, and actors that I no longer have any interest in at all, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Michael Fassbender (sorry, I've just lost interest in him).
A family at the mercy of the Personality in Power like J. Paul Getty, seems like it could be pretty interesting.In thinking of the family like a corporation, I can see that refusing to pay any ransom protects the rest of the family from future kidnapping attempts. But so weird and unloving.
BVR: I mean, in cases like The Elephant Man or The Grinch, actors don't really look like that anyway, so they got people who could fight against the makeup. But in this, you could easily find a passable match, and it doesn't seem like a massive role based on the trailer, so insurance is harder to use as justification.
I just finished reading a biography of the Gettys from Grandfather to father to the kids...
Pretty sad story.. their lives were a mess. Also read about the lives of theHilton's.
Made me glad I am not that rich.
A YES for me for the movie.
It looks like it might be decent although I'm starting to think that Ridley Scott is becoming overrated as he's had more misses than hits.
I'll try to see it. I'll always try to see a film directed by Ridley Scott. I'm with adri on the direction point. Even something like Exodus: Gods and Kings - which on paper shouldn't really work at all - is watchable and spectacular, and I put that down primarily to Scott. I'm not much of a fan of Wahlberg or Spacey, but Williams loks god in this and after Manchester by the Sea I'm rooting for her to be excellent again.
Maybe I'm missing true-to-life context, but it seems that Michelle William's is playing a character that should be played by someone like twenty years older lol.
Yes from me- Scott makes interesting movies even if they fail.
Philip H.: Nope. Williams is 37, playing the first ex-wife of someone who would have been 41 at the time this is set.
I'm here for Williams. She will keep this film grounded, and it's a treat to see her first-billed in a high-profile release from a major studio. So I'm a yes now, although I can easily see this film getting middling reviews. We'll see.
What was with the sunglass reveal? Spacey is no Miranda Priestly. Unless this got AMAZING reviews, I am a no. Mark Wahlberg is a big turnoff
Well, everything looks generic , really not a fan of Ridley Scott ( he doesn`t deliver anything worthwhile since Gladiator, way back in 2000 ) the man has too much style and very little substance , so is a NO for him, also a NO for Wahlberg who is usually mediocre, sometimes fine and rarely great ( The Departed, I Heart Huckabees), MAYBE SO for Spacey , he`s a talented actor, but the heavy make up looks just distracting ( Leo DiCaprio in J. Edgar , anyone ?) rather than something that will help increase the quality of the performance ( a la Nicole Kidman in The Hours), but always a YES for MICHELLE WILLIAMS, she`s always luminous and delivers performances with so much raw truth that you almost forget that it's Michelle Williams and not just an average woman. Overall, a big MAYBE SO.
I am getting major J Edgar vibes from this but Michelle looks sensational.
a la Kidman in The Hours. Moore and Streep totally outshone her. The node won.
nose
"rather than something that will help increase the quality of the performance ( a la Nicole Kidman in The Hours)"
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
natalie
Dg
What a I meant was , KIDMAN manages to show Woof`s melancholy, the soul of a woman besieged by excruciating bouts of mental illness, it is as if its torment has never been shown on the screen before and for that the director focuses on her eyes, the prosthetic nose helps Kidman achieve an uncanny physical resemblance, and that`s all it is.
I misinterpreted what you said...
Thanks.
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Nice Post.
We may be far apart but you are always in my heart. May you have a healthy and abundant New Year!
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