Movie Review: The Big Short

Drama/ Biography

Rated – M

Duration –125mins

Release – Jan 2016

Director –Adam McKay

Writer – Adam McKay, Charles Randolph

Cast –Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt

Mr Knight 

The Big Short brings together some of Hollywood’s finest to tell the true story of the Global Financial Crisis and the collapse of the housing bubble in the early 2000’s in America. If there has ever been a movie to make me feel like my IQ was the same as the Avery family of Netflix’s popular Making a Murderer, this was it!

Adam McKay directs this movie expertly to try and drag simpletons like me and many others along for the ride. He uses clever snippets here and there in between the happenings of this story to explain just exactly what our characters are talking about. One funny one in particular was using Margot Robbie in a bubble bath with champagne explaining the complexities of finances and the housing industry.

The Big Short features Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt and three out of these four exceed my expectations to show how brilliant they truly are at their job. Christian Bale plays Doctor Michael Burry, a one eyed genius who wears daggy t shirts and thongs to work, and despite the objections of his colleagues bets big against the big banks, predicting the ever rising housing industry to fail.

Steve Carell also shows his range playing Mark Baum, a cynic who questions everything, and with his team and some helpful information from Ryan Gosling’s Jared Vennett, also bet against the market. Carell shows the world again that he isn’t just another Will Ferrell and can take on serious roles and be successful at it.

Brad Pitt is the third of the four that out does himself. Pitt plays Ben Rickert, an out of the game genius who helps some young friends to also take on the banks. Pitt really shows in this film that he isn’t just suitable to being a middle aged heart throb with rocking abs, but he can also play a stock market nerd without any doubt that he nails it. Ryan Gosling is the only one who I felt didn’t step out of his comfort zone as his character was a slick Wall Street guy who’s rude to his assistant. Something I think he has shown he can do just fine. Despite this his character was funny and kept the movie flowing without boredom.

Considering half of this movie and its content went flying straight over my head, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Director Adam McKay showed he is something special, making a subject destined to bore the world, into a funny, interesting biopic. 

Mrs Knight

I love this time of year...it’s Oscar Season! Which means the majority of the films you go to see are going to be good. The Big Short was no exception. It wasn’t always easy to understand for non-financially savvy minds like mine, but it was explained as simple as possible. This was through quirky pieces to camera, narration from Ryan Goslings character Jared Vennett, and celebrity cameos such as Margot Robbie in a bath tub, Selena Gomez playing poker and more.

The thought of watching a film based around the credit and housing bubble collapse which led to the Global Financial Crisis makes me feel tired and confused… But mostly tired. Luckily the film is directed by Adam McKay who is well known for directing some of my fave comedies such as Anchorman and Step Brothers. This meant the film was cleverly put together with moments of lightness and comedy.

Not to mention the all-star cast of high quality actors including Ryan Gosling as mentioned above, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt and Steve Carrell who is proving himself time and time again how good an actor he is. Carrell played the part of Mark Baum perfectly. The character of Jared Vennett (Gosling) was also a highlight providing a lot of the comedy. But even amongst all these stars, for me, McKay was the real star with his direction.

Despite the comic storytelling it was still deadly serious and incredibly concerning. I’m a sucker for a true story and it was nice to watch one that wasn’t a drama based around death. While I clearly found it very entertaining and definitely didn’t want to step out to the bathroom in fear of missing something it wasn’t an incredibly memorable film for me. Although I would probably be able to understand more the second time around, I’m not sure that I would want to watch it again… Not for a few years at least. But overall it was very entertaining with intriguing characters and I recommend for all, no matter how much you understand finance.