The Big Short, 2015.
Directed by Adam McKay.
Starring Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Finn Wittrock, Max Greenfield, Melissa Leo, Rafe Spall, Hamish Linklater, Tracy Letts, John Magaro, Jeremy Strong, Marissa Tomei, Karen Gillan, Stanley Wong, Byron Mann, Margot Robbie, and Selena Gomez.
SYNOPSIS:
Four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed.
Who knew that director Adam McKay, the guy that made Step Brothers (this isn’t a knock by the way, it’s actually absolutely hilarious), was capable of tackling important subject material like the collapse of the economy, where instead of leaping out of his comfort zone into straight drama, he could find a happy medium between seriousness and witty humor fueled by fuming outrage?
Yeah, he’s imbued previous efforts like Anchorman with scathing social and political commentary, but truth trumps fiction every time, and the events that unfold throughout The Big Short (based on the 2010 book of the same name detailing the credit and housing bubble collapse) are unbelievably maddening, yet ripe with gold for the comedic filmmaker to scold.
Adam McKay’s The Big Short is all of this and more; it’s zany and off-the-wall thanks to a whopping amount of A-list talent (there aren’t many other movies period that can boast a top-billed cast featuring the likes of Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, and Steve Carell) but also an important piece of film-making detailing the unlimited boundaries of corporate greed that exist in America. The single largest praise I can actually give the movie is that there are multiple scenes that elicit a combination of anger and laughter, primarily using the latter as a mechanism of coping with the former.
There’s a scene where Steve Carell’s character walks away from a conversation to have a quick private huddle with his buddies, where he expresses confusion that the greedy asshats he is having words with are confessing everything, to which his friends reply “they’re not confessing, they’re bragging”. This is then followed by a brilliant editing sequence cutting to Carell’s character storming through a hallway utterly convinced that, yes, banks have gotten greedy and the bubble of the housing market is about to burst.
By the way, don’t worry if you were worried that you will come into The Big Short and not understand a goddamn thing regarding the more technical conversations about the industry, because Adam McKay knows this, as he frequently uses Ryan Gosling’s character (who doubles as the film’s narrator) to bluntly admit everything is probably going over your head. So what does he do? He throws the scene to Margot Robbie in a bubblebath or Selena Gomez playing blackjack to maintain your attention while explaining stuff. To be honest, it kind of backfires considering that much of the dialogue can still be sometimes hard to follow, but audiences will never feel lost in the narrative. The irreverent humor also successfully lightens the tone for a passing moment.
The defined personalities of each of the four major players also need to be applauded, as something like Christian Bale’s hedge fund manager walking around his office for weeks on end in the same T-shirt and sweatpants while rocking the fuck out to classics like “Master of Puppets” by Metallica, by extension, gives the movie more energy and life. It explores the characters without them actually getting in the way of the important story at hand. Ryan Gosling makes it clear to the audience he’s narrating to that he is not a good guy in this story, Steve Carell makes it clear he has a moral compass, and Brad Pitt reminds everyone that the consequence of these rich people getting richer are millions of homes and jobs lost.
The Big Short uses all of this to blitz along like a rolling thunderball of manic energy hellbent on pissing you off with laughter. It doesn’t matter if the dialogue goes over your head, because the horrific reality of what actually happened will settle in and leave you furious. Even though it gets repetitive occasionally watching a bevy of unlikable characters be greedy douches, the bigger picture always remains fascinating.
Adam McKay has upped his social commentary game from Anchorman into something even more aggressively poignant, this time something that needs to be seen to be believed. Also, it should go without saying, but The Big Short contains the best ensemble cast of 2015.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder – An aficionado of film, wrestling, and gaming. Follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=WWU57JuvPl0
Originally published December 13, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
