Friday, February 5, 2016

Best Picture Review - The Big Short


Simply put, The Big Short is a tale of the very real housing crisis of the mid-2000's.  Three separate, but parallel stories are told. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) - an eccentric hedge fund manager, Wall Street Trader Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) and Mark Baum (Steve Carell) - an idealist fed up with corruption in the financial industry, and the start-up team of Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) partnered with retired investment banker Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) bet against (AKA "short") the housing market via a number of banks that prove naive in realizing the full scope of their issues. For the three groups to win, the general economy has to lose - ultimately, meaning the general investor (AKA the greater American population) who trusts the financial institutions suffers. 

Are you lost yet?  I know the feeling!  Since the story is based off our reality just a short decade ago, there were no real surprises.  However, the movie was made in sort of comedic manner.  The presentation was a little odd for me given the seriousness of the subject for many who were affected by the crisis, but it did provide a much needed lightness throughout.  Christian Bale, nominated for Best Supporting Actor, proved fantastic in his role.  His character is off-beat, borderline genius, and certainly on the autistic spectrum.  Additionally, he has one false eye from an accident as a boy.  Needless to say, he doesn't relate well to others.  A challenging role without a doubt...and Bale pulled it off flawlessly.  Steve Carell, not nominated, was equally as great in his role.  He plays a very serious and perpetually angry man.  I really enjoyed his performance.

In the end, I wasn't a huge fan of the movie overall.  Mostly because the subject matter didn't really interest me.  At first, I tried to keep up (there are various comedic vignettes throughout the film to assist), but ultimately just focused on the various character story lines.  If it had been about a half hour shorter, I might have enjoyed it more overall though.  As it stands, I'm happy I was able to see such great acting even if I didn't love the movie itself. 

My Rating: 3 Stars

Other Nominations: 
Supporting Actor (Christian Bale), Directing (Adam McKay), Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay

Have you seen The Big Short yet?

Andrea :)

1 comment:

  1. I saw this movie and really liked it! It was smart and I was even able to understand what was going on. haha!

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