Movie review
November 25, 2016 · 133 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
Miss Sloane is a 2016 political thriller about a cutthroat Washington lobbyist who abruptly switches sides to push a bill expanding gun background checks against a powerful NRA-style gun lobby. She deploys aggressive tactics, exposes corruption through illegal means, and ultimately sees the legislation pass while facing personal consequences. The film centers a hyper-competent female protagonist and her team of women operatives dominating a male political arena, with recurring scenes and dialogue that advance pro-gun control arguments and frame conservative gun interests as cynical and obstructive.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Miss Sloane.
Woke representation / casting
The story and marketing spotlight a female lead and female-heavy team of ambitious professionals succeeding in cutthroat DC politics, including Gugu Mbatha-Raw in a prominent supporting role.
Woke political dialogue
Multiple scenes deliver explicit arguments and statistics favoring expanded gun background checks while depicting the gun lobby and its allies as manipulative profit-seekers blocking popular reform.
Identity-driven story themes
The narrative emphasizes hyper-competent women operating with ruthlessness and solidarity in a traditionally male arena, framed in cast interviews as shattering gender stereotypes.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film delivers a sustained takedown of Washington corruption and special-interest power, specifically portraying conservative gun advocacy as an obstructive force rooted in money and outdated priorities versus public safety and mass shooting realities.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Conservative critics and gun rights voices condemned the movie as heavy-handed liberal propaganda with shallow villains and a stacked pro-control message; box office failure reinforced perceptions of agenda-driven content.
Creator track record context
Writer selected the gun issue for headline timeliness after shootings; director expressed personal support for control but no creators show a pattern of identity-focused or activist prior work.
Production
