The Big Short - directed by Adam McKay
Starring: Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Melissa Leo, Karen Gillan, Finn Wittrock, Rafe Spall, Max Greenfield, Selena Gomez, Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated: M - Frequent profanity and brief nudity
Director Adam McKay is most well known for the Will Ferrell comedies "Talladega Nights", "Step Brothers", "The Other Guys" and the two Anchorman movies.
He would on the surface at least seem an odd choice to direct a movie about the decline of the banking system and potentially the world economy.
But as this film starts the choice is quickly revealed as inspired.
Clearly McKay was chosen not in spite of his comedic chops but because of them.
Not to say that this is a comedy- it isn't exactly- but rather that the same skill with timing and staging in the comedy genre that McKay has is well utilised here.
Using everything from frequent breaching of the fourth wall to montages to cutting scenes and characters off mid flow McKay keeps this movie moving at a breakneck pace even though not much happens beyond discussions, phone calls and computer transactions.
And it is utterly thrilling.
Not even fifteen minutes into this movie I turned to a friend in the seat next to mine and whispered 'I love this movie'.
Ryan Gosling had already guided the audience through the setup which includes laying out the financial systems behind mortgages.
The explanations are good but just as I felt my confusion over some of the terms begin to overwhelm me Goslings Jared Vennett introduces us to Margot Robbie in a hot-tub to explain.
Not a character played by Robbie- Margot Robbie the actress.
In a tub.
Sipping champagne.
Explaining loan bundling in her native Australian accent.
The grin that had slowly been creeping across my face was now wide and firmly fixed.
It will not be the last time that the movie calls on some famous faces to help the audience out when the terminology gets tricky.
And the fourth wall will again and again be broken by a lot of characters too.
You see "The Big Short" plays entirely by its own rules and it is a blast largely because of it.
I love that it effectively has three leads and that not all of them will ever occupy the same frame or even have anything directly to do with each other.
Gosling and Carell have worked together before in the wonderful "Crazy, Stupid Love" and while the relationship between the characters is very different here the chemistry is still evident.
Carell has more heavy lifting to do with a character weighed down by tragedy whereas Gosling is straight up the typical wise-ass smoothy that he plays so well.
Christian Bale is probably the most likely to attract award recognition playing Michael Burry.... sorry- Dr Michael Burry.
With a glass eye and a distinct lack of social skills it is the odd Burry who spots the trouble heading the way of the US - and by association - the World economy.
And along the way other characters get in on the action.
The action in this case is effectively people betting against the US economy.
And that is what makes this very funny movie also a pretty scary drama.
When the mechanism behind the entire economic system is simply too big to be allowed to fail what hope is there that the people dooming the world will ever mend their ways?
For the lead characters winning also means losing by definition.
McKay does a terrific job in reigning the tone in.
Not only in keeping everything funny and entertaining but in allowing the menace to creep out at just the right moment for maximum impact.
Sometimes it is Brad Pitt's Ben Rickert - the moral centre of this film- other times Carell or Bale.
Regardless the balance of deadly serious warning and highly entertaining humour is kept carefully just right.
I was reminded of "The Wolf Of Wall Street" frequently.
Yes- Margot Robbie is a common factor as is at least part of the timeframe but it goes much deeper than that.
It shares some of the outrageous humour of Scorsese's crazy flick too but it is on a character level that it truly shares DNA.
Characters are presented in all of their moral and ethical ambiguity.
Even the 'heroes' of the piece are also at least somewhat self-serving after all.
J C Chandor's excellent "Margin Call" also sprang to mind.
Structurally the two movies are quite different but the tone is similar- both are very good at slowly revealing the creeping menace at the centre of their stories.
In fact you could think of "The Big Short" as a sort of hybrid of "The Wolf Of Wall Street", "Margin Call" and "Moneyball".
It is no surprise then that "The Big Short" writer Michael Lewis was responsible for the Oscar nominated "Moneyball".
I fully expect this movie to attract considerable awards notice too.
The writing, acting and editing are all top notch.
It is McKay's direction that should be rewarded above all however.
I hope that this will mark a turning point in his career where he will be able to make not only the wonderful comedies that he is up until now known for but also more dramatic fare such as this.
Clearly he is more than comfortable in this realm.
I grinned, laughed and winced my way through this movie enjoying every second.
There is brief nudity and A LOT of profanity so this is an R rated affair through and through but I almost wish that it was PG-13 to allow as many people young and old to see it.
In a year that has given us more than our fair share of gems like "Sicario", "The Martian", "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation" and of course "Mad Max Fury Road" I didn't expect another of their calibre until a certain outer space epic arrived next week but..... here one comes.
And it is a gem.
RATING: 86/ 100
CONCLUSION: Enthralling from the start this is a truly excellent movie that I hope beyond all hope does well. It deserves to be seen and enjoyed by many, many people and should be.
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated: M - Frequent profanity and brief nudity
Director Adam McKay is most well known for the Will Ferrell comedies "Talladega Nights", "Step Brothers", "The Other Guys" and the two Anchorman movies.
He would on the surface at least seem an odd choice to direct a movie about the decline of the banking system and potentially the world economy.
But as this film starts the choice is quickly revealed as inspired.
Clearly McKay was chosen not in spite of his comedic chops but because of them.
Not to say that this is a comedy- it isn't exactly- but rather that the same skill with timing and staging in the comedy genre that McKay has is well utilised here.
Using everything from frequent breaching of the fourth wall to montages to cutting scenes and characters off mid flow McKay keeps this movie moving at a breakneck pace even though not much happens beyond discussions, phone calls and computer transactions.
And it is utterly thrilling.
Not even fifteen minutes into this movie I turned to a friend in the seat next to mine and whispered 'I love this movie'.
Ryan Gosling had already guided the audience through the setup which includes laying out the financial systems behind mortgages.
The explanations are good but just as I felt my confusion over some of the terms begin to overwhelm me Goslings Jared Vennett introduces us to Margot Robbie in a hot-tub to explain.
Not a character played by Robbie- Margot Robbie the actress.
In a tub.
Sipping champagne.
Explaining loan bundling in her native Australian accent.
The grin that had slowly been creeping across my face was now wide and firmly fixed.
It will not be the last time that the movie calls on some famous faces to help the audience out when the terminology gets tricky.
And the fourth wall will again and again be broken by a lot of characters too.
You see "The Big Short" plays entirely by its own rules and it is a blast largely because of it.
Gosling and Carell have worked together before in the wonderful "Crazy, Stupid Love" and while the relationship between the characters is very different here the chemistry is still evident.
Carell has more heavy lifting to do with a character weighed down by tragedy whereas Gosling is straight up the typical wise-ass smoothy that he plays so well.
Christian Bale is probably the most likely to attract award recognition playing Michael Burry.... sorry- Dr Michael Burry.
With a glass eye and a distinct lack of social skills it is the odd Burry who spots the trouble heading the way of the US - and by association - the World economy.
And along the way other characters get in on the action.
The action in this case is effectively people betting against the US economy.
And that is what makes this very funny movie also a pretty scary drama.
When the mechanism behind the entire economic system is simply too big to be allowed to fail what hope is there that the people dooming the world will ever mend their ways?
For the lead characters winning also means losing by definition.
McKay does a terrific job in reigning the tone in.
Not only in keeping everything funny and entertaining but in allowing the menace to creep out at just the right moment for maximum impact.
Sometimes it is Brad Pitt's Ben Rickert - the moral centre of this film- other times Carell or Bale.
Regardless the balance of deadly serious warning and highly entertaining humour is kept carefully just right.
I was reminded of "The Wolf Of Wall Street" frequently.
Yes- Margot Robbie is a common factor as is at least part of the timeframe but it goes much deeper than that.
It shares some of the outrageous humour of Scorsese's crazy flick too but it is on a character level that it truly shares DNA.
Characters are presented in all of their moral and ethical ambiguity.
Even the 'heroes' of the piece are also at least somewhat self-serving after all.
J C Chandor's excellent "Margin Call" also sprang to mind.
Structurally the two movies are quite different but the tone is similar- both are very good at slowly revealing the creeping menace at the centre of their stories.
In fact you could think of "The Big Short" as a sort of hybrid of "The Wolf Of Wall Street", "Margin Call" and "Moneyball".
It is no surprise then that "The Big Short" writer Michael Lewis was responsible for the Oscar nominated "Moneyball".
I fully expect this movie to attract considerable awards notice too.
The writing, acting and editing are all top notch.
It is McKay's direction that should be rewarded above all however.
I hope that this will mark a turning point in his career where he will be able to make not only the wonderful comedies that he is up until now known for but also more dramatic fare such as this.
Clearly he is more than comfortable in this realm.
I grinned, laughed and winced my way through this movie enjoying every second.
There is brief nudity and A LOT of profanity so this is an R rated affair through and through but I almost wish that it was PG-13 to allow as many people young and old to see it.
In a year that has given us more than our fair share of gems like "Sicario", "The Martian", "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation" and of course "Mad Max Fury Road" I didn't expect another of their calibre until a certain outer space epic arrived next week but..... here one comes.
And it is a gem.
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