There are movies that are a must watch 'cause they not only speak about illuminating the present reality we live in (i.e. Thina Sobabili, the Godfather, Mapantsula , City of God) but they are freakingly well made too. The Big Short enters that limited club... let's dig in.
Produced by Brad Pitts' Plan B production house - these are the guys who gave us 12 Years a Slave and Moneyball (written by Michael Lewis and the Big Short is based on another Michael Lewis book) - yeah, Plan B are carving a great name for themselves with their product.
Directed by Adam Mckay who is normally associated with Will Ferrel comedies, Mckay takes those comedic sensibilities and puts them into a very dry world of financing and my he does a great job at his first dramatic feature.
The pacing for something that deals with numbers, banking, loans and global finances... Mckay does a great job at keeping it fresh by creating a mix of celebrity cameos, breaking down jargon and by using pop culture to mark the shift of time but the secret ace of The Big Short is its ensemble cast. It's like Ocean Eleven all over again but with the team never coming together to take down the house but they still win.
Steve Carrel is amazing, Ryan Gosling is perfect as the doeshbag investor, you can never go wrong with Christian Bale but the supporting cast is equally as good. Whether it's delivering the comedic beats or the drama, everyone is present, and mind you, this is not a comedy but you will quickly forget that.
The other ace for The Big Short is it's subject matter - it shows the dangers of being ignorant and relying on the system to take care of you. What if the system is corrupt and flawed!? When it comes to money, the price the general public pays for the ignorance can be your hard earned savings, home, pension etc.
The more the guys dig and show how bad the collusion of the big American banks was, the more it dawns in the movie that the average Joe Schmo is totally clueless about what is happening around them. If there's one big lesson I took from the movie it's that one needs to educate oneself about money so you are not swindled or better yet, so you can be one of those people who make the money from others' ignorance.
I don't expect this movie will be put out on billboards cause it says a lot of sad things about the financial system and made me think a lot about our own situation at home now. Yes it is funny, yes it informative and yes it has a great story but the really great thing about The Big Short is what it says about corporate greed and the general public's ignorance. Smarten up and watch this. Will it win best picture Oscar...time will tell
Rating ****
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* Utter Rubbish ** only if theres nothing better on tv *** its aight ****now we cooking *****instant classic