2015 Films: #29. The Big Short

This was the 2nd film in the New Year's Day double feature. Based on Michael Lewis' 2010 book of the same name about the 2007-08 global financial crisis that came about due to the the unstable mortgages and credit bubble. The film received an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes and is directed by Adam McKay containing an all-star cast. McKay is probably not the director you would expect for this type of film but he does an amazing job of telling the story of the people who were able to discover that the traditionally rock solid housing market is unstable due to subprime loans. The bubble is predicted to burst in the 2nd quarter of 2007. By betting on the housing market's collapse, the short bettors stand to win big.

McKay puts the moments leading to the crisis in order and how the signs were there but no one wanted to see them because of the money being made. The systematic fraud of everyone involved from mortgage lenders to rating companies to giant banks were all culpable. There's a line that stuck with me, when the cast goes to Vegas for a bond convention, Ryan Gosling's character says to a group of investors, lead by Steve Carell, that "you guys bet against stupid money. It's time to see how stupid that money is." Carell and is group are appalled by the greed of the big banks and their contempt for their customers (they know they're selling a terrible product). Sure enough, the bubble bursts and it's not a housing crisis in America but the effects are global. A global financial crisis.

It's hard to explain the plot of the film without getting way to technical about credit default swaps or CDOs. The film is near brilliant. McKay sometimes takes a whimsical approach but he drives it home what effects when a family who pays their rent on time becomes homeless because their landlord didn't pay the mortgage. He also has the actors "talk" to the audience about how facts were changed slightly for drama and uses celebrity cutaways for the more mundane financial details, like using Margot Robbie to explain subprime mortgages.

The acting is probably some the best in any film with an ensemble cast such as this. There were no bad performances, everyone brought their "A game." The standout performance had to go to Steve Carell. He stole everyone scene he was in. He should get a nomination come Oscar time and this is probably one of the 3 best films I've seen this year. The Big Short is a must see film.

The subject matter of the film is hard to take sometimes. To me, the big banks all acted like one large criminal organization. This was a criminal conspiracy that went unpunished. They were all guilty of a litany of abuses, got away clean but managed to get a tax payer bail out. For other great films about the crisis check out the following...