Parents' Guide to All the Money in the World

Despite now-infamous last-minute tinkering, this fact-based tale emerges as a fine pulp thriller, bathed in director Ridley Scott's trademark visual richness and with a few real-world life lessons. In an unprecedented move, Scott decided at the 11th hour to replace all of the J. Paul Getty scenes filmed with previous co-star Kevin Spacey (who was accused of multiple acts of sexual misconduct) with Christopher Plummer. But there's no evidence of this rush job in the finished film. Plummer gives a great, truly sinister supporting performance in All the Money in the World as the man to whom a tax write-off is more important than family.

But the bulk of the movie belongs to Williams, who deals quietly with rage and panic and who's accused by reporters of not weeping enough. The younger Plummer -- no relation to Christopher -- is fine as Paul; his relationship with a sympathetic Italian kidnapper (French actor Romain Duris) helps his scenes come alive. Scott uses the Italian settings, the countryside, and Getty's palatial quarters as restricting places: They're spacious but lacking in freedom. As in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, the paparazzi are a constant, buzzing, attacking force here, adding tension at several turns. A few action-oriented set pieces, some chases and escapes, are close to masterful. It's not a perfect, or perhaps very deep, movie, but it's grippingly effective.