Adam McKay has delivered an energetic, highly entertaining movie that could be titled ‘The 2008 Credit Bubble Burst for Dummies’. With a terrific cast and rollicking CliffsNotes explanations along the way, this savvy and often very funny adaptation of Michael Lewis’s bestseller centres on the guys who cashed in on our misfortunes.
Our master of ceremonies in this scary circus is Ryan Gosling, slickly terrific as the guy who gets almost nice guy Steve Carell’s hedge fund team to buy into his plan to bet against the housing boom. A fabulous Christian Bale plays an analyst who knows a teetering economy when he sees one, even if nobody else does. And then there’s Finn Whittrock and John Magaro, who tap mentor Brad Pitt into their scheme, despite his somewhat mixed morals. All are magnetic forces of nature.
And if, in the end, the smart political asides dissolve into more traditional and obvious preaching, maybe some people need to be hit over their heads on this. Consumers, investors and perhaps even our leaders seem to have short memories and big dreams. Starry, approachable morality tales like this one clearly aim to wake everybody up.
– Joanne Langield, The Movie Minute
