All the Money in the World

All the Money in the World is a 2017 film directed by Ridley Scott, written by David Scarpa, and starring Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Duris, Charlie Plummer, and Marco Leonardi. It is based on the 1995 book Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty by John Pearson, which details the events of the 1973 kidnapping of billionaire J. Paul Getty's grandson John Paul Getty III.

Plot
In 1973, 16-year-old oil company heir John Paul Getty III (Paul) is kidnapped in Rome by a Mafia-like organization called the 'Ndrangheta, who demand a $17 million ransom. His divorced mother Gail, unable to pay it, goes to his wealthy grandfather's estate to ask for his help in paying it, and turns to former CIA operative Fletcher Chace to investigate Paul's disappearance. Tensions arise the longer the kidnappers wait for their ransom, and the media picks up on the story, blaming Gail for her refusal to pay the ransom.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It captures the kidnapping that would lead to the downfall of the Getty dynasty in a dark and dramatic manner.
 * 2) Gail Harris is a strong, relatable protagonist, and has great chemistry with Fletcher Chace.
 * 3) Christopher Plummer is well-cast as J. Paul Getty, capturing the latter's miserliness to the audience.
 * 4) It stays relatively faithful to the historical event, despite some historical inaccuracies like those in BQ#2.
 * 5) Suspenseful moments, such as when the kidnappers cut off Paul's ear to mail to a newspaper.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Getty can be unlikable at times.
 * 2) Some historical inaccuracies, such as:
 * 3) *Paul never saw the faces of his captors, unlike in the film.
 * 4) *Gail was never asked to identify a body in real life as she does in the film.
 * 5) *The real-life Paul did not stage an escape from prison.
 * 6) *There were two women living on the Gettys' property by the time of his death, which the film never shows.

Reception
All the Money in the World received generally positive reviews, with many praising the accuracy to the historical event. The film holds a 7.0/10 rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with 79% of 259 reviews being positive. Its critical consensus reads "All the Money in the World offers an absorbing portrayal of a true story, brought compellingly to life by a powerful performance from Christopher Plummer." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, and Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave it three out of four stars, commending it as a whole despite criticizing the middle part as "repetitive" and Getty's portrayal being "repugnant" without proper context. The film also holds a 6.8/10 rating on IMDb.

Trivia

 * Kevin Spacey was originally cast into the role of Getty. However, two months before the film's scheduled release date, sexual misconduct allegations had arisen against him, leading director Ridley Scott to replace him with Christopher Plummer, whom Scott claimed was his original choice for the role until studio executives had insisted on a "bigger name" that led to Spacey's casting. Scott had most of Spacey's scenes reshot within nine days in November, which ended up costing $10 million, ultimately increasing the budget to $50 million.