The Big Short (2015)
2015
R
130 Minutes
The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown.
User Review
-
While Adam McKay's The Big Short is dynamic and vibrant with energy, it remains a sad reminder of how corrupting greed and power can be. Steve Carell (Mark Baum) states his sadness, nit his anger which we are so familiar with at this point, but his sadness to a room full of banking executives.
It's obviously a massive divergence from McKay's last comedies of Step Brothers and Anchorman. But, the latter always had a satirical edge. Here, that is satire is turned into realism, as reflected in the host of naturalistic performances at play. This is juxtaposed with many fourth wall breaks and flashes forward and back. Many of these are seemingly random with indulgent cameos explaining finances. I know. One particularly gratuitous one of Margot Robbie in a bathtub is both lechy and unhelpful. To me, they even felt condescending.
That being said, the finances and papers and mortgages are A. extremely boring and B. hard to understand. While I appreciate that McKay is attempting to tell us what is happening, there must be an alternative method? My mind wanders to that moment in the Wolf of Wall Street when Jordan Belford (Leonardo DiCaprio) is explaining stocks and shares, stops, and says "Well... none of this matters. All you have to know is that we got filthy rich."
What keeps the film together is the wonderful documentary style of filming and the array of wonderful performances. The film is funny in places but the performances carry a lot of pain, particularly Carell who has a growing sense of helplessness as the film progresses.1 member likes this review.
