Reviews in the Nick of Time: The Big Short

First I have to say that, with all respect to The Force Awakens and JJ Abrams, this is the movie I wanted to see this holiday season.  Due to various delays, including the movie not showing any closer than 65 miles away, I didn’t get to the theater till this week.

Check out the star power here.  Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Karen Gillan, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Gosling, Casey Groves, Selena Gomez, Margot Robbie, and Anthony Bourdain as “himself.”

All of whom are compelling evidence for the theory that if you write a really great script, really good actors will want to be in your movie.

In this case, the script is by Charles Randolph and director Adam McKay, based on the excellent book by Michael Lewis.

The Big Short is about the guys who made money— billions, really—  on the 2008 financial collapse, because they could see it coming and everyone else couldn’t.  They aren’t heroes exactly, because after all they’re profiting on the misery and suffering of hundreds of millions of people, but compared to everyone else on Wall Street, these guys are fucking Captain America.

Christian Bale plays a character located somewhere on the autism spectrum who digs deep into data, Ryan Gosling is the Deutsche Bank trader who bets against his own bank, Brad Pitt is the mentor to a couple noobs who discover to their delight and horror that the collective IQ of everyone in the housing market is maybe 86, and Steve Carell plays the Angriest Man in New York, a title for which (believe me) there is some serious competition.

In fact watching Carell repeatedly expanding like an outrage-filled bullfrog is one of the highlights of the film.

The film deals with some fairly complex financial issues, but these are cleverly explained to the audience by celebrities brought into the film just for the occasion.  Anthony Bourdain explains how to repackage BBB bonds as AAA through the metaphor of a fish stew, Selena Gomez explains shadow banking at the blackjack table, and Margot Robbie lectures on collateralized debt obligation bonds while drinking champagne naked in her bubble bath.  (You do not want to look away.)

The film never stops being funny, and never stops being deeply serious.  Ultimately, though, The Big Short so relentlessly hammered me with the stupidity, greed, ignorance, and corruption of Wall Street and its so-called regulators that I ended up walking away depressed.  I mean, those guys are back in charge, right?  And how do I bet against them?

Michael Burry, the real-life character played by Christian Bale, is now concentrating his investments in water trading.

Oh, dear.