You wouldn’t expect to find a filmmaker like Adam McKay
behind “The Big Short,” an ambitiously brainy satirical take on the 2008
financial crisis, but it turns out McKay’s unique comedic sensibilities are a
perfect fit. Best known as the director of stupid-smart comedies like “Step
Brothers” and the “Anchorman” movies, McKay is able to find the humor and
laughs in the material — this time he makes sure they’re the kind that tend to
catch in your throat.
Based on the
best-selling 2010 non-fiction book by Michael Lewis (“Moneyball,” “The Blind
Side”), the film focuses on those financial wheelers and dealers who recognized
the precarious state of America’s housing market and saw the collapse coming,
but decided the best solution was to profit off of it. Socially awkward,
money-managing savant, Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) is the first to
notice the telltale signs, advising his firm to “short” the housing market — basically
meaning to bet on the likelihood that the investments the market has been built
upon will fail.
There’s
hotshot banker Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) — also serving as our fourth
wall-breaking guide through the film — who brings the information to the
attention of hedge-funder Mark Baum (Steve Carell) and his team (Hamish Linklater, Rafe Spall, and Jeremy Strong). Disillusioned with the world of high
finance but still in its thrall, Baum is the film’s conscience, raging against
corruption of the industry even as he benefits from it.
Finally,
Jamie Shipley and Charlie Geller (Finn Wittrock and John Magaro) are small-time
investors who stumble across the information and bring in retired investment
guru Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) to shepherd them through the deal. Our cast of
financial Cassandras hope to profit off a crooked system, but even they
underestimate the extent of the greed, corruption, and stupidity at play. Each
of these teams are mostly working independently of one another, and the film
zigzags back and forth between their storylines with the madcap energy of a
heist film.
“The Big
Short” is loaded with financial jargon — from “collateralized debt obligations”
to “credit default swaps” — and the barrage of information becomes overwhelming
to anyone who isn’t an experienced investment banker. As the characters are
quick to point out, these terms were all invented by Wall Street types, and
they’re meant to confuse us, all the better to make it seem like no one else
could possibly do what they do. The script, by McKay and Charles Randolph,
comes up with some clever ways to illustrate some of its more complicated
concepts. There’s on-screen text, Jenga visual aids, and Margot Robbie popping
up in a bubble bath, sipping champagne, and lecturing us on the intricacies of
subprime mortgages (Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez also show up to host
their own mini economics seminars). It’s fun and surprisingly informative, and
the effect is such that the dense, complex subject starts to feel relatively
light and breezy. It’s still mostly impenetrable, but Randolph and McKay make
sure that the most crucial concepts remain clear.
The massive
cast of characters, ADD editing, and handheld camera work can all be a little
much. The film’s pace is relentless, and the film seems almost impatient to
convey information (to the extent that scenes have a tendency to cut a beat or
two early, chopping off the tail-end of the actor’s words). One imagines that
editor Hank Corwin must have had an aneurysm putting it all together, but the
breakneck speed and in-your-face style are all in an effort to make sure people
finally pay attention.
McKay
balances a puckish sense of humor with righteous anger: he wants you to leave
pissed off. With its clear-eyed assessment of Wall Street’s greed and
stupidity, “The Big Short” explores similar thematic territory as Scorsese’s
“The Wolf of Wall Street.” This film is infinitely more blatant in its
condemnation, though I never understood complaints that “Wolf” glorified the
world it depicted, accusations that I can’t help feeling say more about the
viewer than it does the film.
“The Big
Short” leaves a bitter aftertaste as we realize all those laughs are coming — quite
literally — at our expense. The real trick of the film is found in the way we
naturally want to root for the characters to succeed, but the second they do,
McKay is right there to remind us of the real-life stakes: every penny of their
financial gain came when millions of hardworking, everyday citizens lost
everything. Yay?
This article appears in Dec 30, 2015 – Jan 5, 2016.
