The Big Short

This is a very difficult movie to watch and I believe that I’ll watch it again soon. It’s got a lot of information about finances that I kept getting lost in. And it didn’t even help that there was an insertion here and there that explained some of the terms very nicely. For example, Margot Robbie in a bathtub made for a very pleasant insertion. But the 130 minutes still flew in a blink of an eye and I really liked that about the movie. It told a really difficult topic in a very interesting way. The director Adam McKay went wild with this one. And we can also thank the actors like Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale or Steve Carell, who have taken the story to new heights. And when it comes to Steve Carell, I must admit that the longer I’ve known him, the better roles he keeps getting. The Big Short was a big surprise. It presented the big mess-up that the entire America has been though in a really original way; although, it was a big mess-up for most ordinary people and then just a slight mishap for the selected few who think they rule the entire world. And often, they don’t just think so, unfortunately. As far as the global capitalism goes, this is an eye-opening movie. But just for a little while. Thinking about this for any longer could cause infinite depressions. (02/23/2016)

Immediately after watching the movie - albeit reluctantly and with considerable hesitation - I awarded the film a dirty four stars because there is never enough criticism of greed and spinelessness. However, I am writing this comment sometime later, when the shortcomings of the script have fully revealed themselves. While it does analyze the causes of the economic crisis of the memorable year 2008, it does so in a somewhat cumbersome and less understandable way for the average viewer. The Big Short does not work as a captivating story with charismatic characters, such as in The Wolf of Wall Street, nor is it an intimate drama that exposes human characters to the core in a borderline situation, as was the case in Margin Call. In the realm of movies depicting the nefarious activities of financial institutions and discussing the crisis of trust in modern Western society, this film simply does not belong to the top tier. Overall impression: 60%. (10/03/2022)

A screenwriting masterclass. A fantastic slap in the face of the greedy capitalist system of hard-core, savage financial jungle led by scummy Gordon Geckos, an economy without regulation and feedback controls. No other film in the last 10 years has shown better how the invisible hand of the market is ripping our asses off, that a few individuals can profit handsomely from your misery thanks to the greedy policies of the banks, that we are somehow to blame for everything, thanks to our indifference, and that everything will be borne financially by the common folk of the middle and lower classes. And as the closing credits show, history unfortunately repeats itself and will continue to repeat itself as long as man lives. (04/27/2016)

For me, the plot of The Big Short revolves too much around mortgages and banks. It lacks the playfulness and lightheartedness of The Wolf of Wall Street, which would be entertaining even if you saw it in Chinese. When the final credits informed us of “Where are they now” in text only, without photos of the characters, the names weren’t enough for me to know who these people were. But the actors were great, and I was the most surprised by Steve Carell, who seems to be transitioning from light comedies into character acting. (01/07/2016)

Bombastic! An atomic bomb. The horror of a mortgage in its most nightmarish form. And again emerges my favorite topic, dumb and irresponsible people. I don’t want to pretend that I understood everything, no way. And Margot Robbie in the bath was more distracting than helpful in explaining, but I have a feeling that fundamentally it isn’t so complicated after all. Good old untruths and lies. In terms of acting, The Big Short is wholesome, from Bale thru Pitt. Everyone wrings out the maximum from their role, Steve Carell dominates again (where was he all those years when dramas were knocking on the door?), he rediscovered himself in this movie. Adam McKay was a surprise. The end of the American dream presented with humor and tension. You have to see it more than once. (02/07/2016)