The Big Short (2015)

[SeanC]

 

Adam McKay adapts Michael Lewis' 2010 nonfiction account of the 2007-2008 subprime mortgage bust, primarily from the POV of the individuals who predicted the collapse of the housing market and used credit default swaps to take advantage of it.  Starring Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, and a remarkable array of unflattering hairpieces.

 

The trailer for this didn't do much for me, and while I've enjoyed some of his comedy films, I wouldn't have thought of Adam McKay as somebody suited to this sort of story.  After strong reviews, I opted to give it a shot.  The result is pretty good, I think.  It's done in a somewhat eclectic style that at times resembles what Scorsese did with The Wolf of Wall Street, at other times presented like a documentary (e.g., the cutaways at various points where random celebrities deliver exposition on assorted financial instruments).  There's a heavy reliance on humour in delivering all this; whereas Scorsese sort of breezily (and amusingly) blew off the details, McKay clearly wants to educate any ordinary theatregoer who opted to give the film a shot.  But underneath the humour, it's a very angry movie, much of the time not very subtle about it.

 

I think the most successful aspect of the movie is the way McKay initially frames it as a story about prophets in the wilderness, but in the final third gradually peels off the distorting effects of the POV and shows that ultimately these guys are just looking to cash in on people's misery (this actually could have gone further; in promoting the use of credit default swaps, Burry and co. arguably made it worse).  They didn't cause the underlying problem, of course, but they aren't in any sense trying to fix the problem or even (with one exception) call attention to it.

Edited December 27, 2015 by SeanC

[AimingforYoko]

Steve Carrell as MVP. (With a strong assist to Margot Robbie in a bathtub. JK) Actually, after Carrell, I have to give it up to Ryan Gosling, they played both of their characters as assholes who happened to be right and made a lot of money off the misfortune of a lot of people.

[choclatechip45]

I really enjoyed this movie. I thought they did a good job with how they explained a complicated subject,  Steve Carrell is definitely the highlight.

[BabyVegas]

I really enjoyed it. I thought they took a subject that was always intended to be difficult to understand and made it into something very interesting and comprehensible. Steve Carrell definitely knocked it out of the park. I generally don't like seeing movies in the theater because I have a hard time sitting still for that long, but I was riveted to this one. I thought they did a great job of holding the tension. Even though I knew what was going to happen I still watched in horror as it unfolded. I never would have guessed that I would really enjoy it based on not loving McKay's collabs with Will Ferrell, but I thought he did a great job blending some comedic moments with the very serious reality of what happened and not moralizing on the people themselves. To me the movie had a very clear POV, knew where it was going, and didn't waste time. I could watch it again.

[Jordan Baker]

I echo what everyone said about Steve Carell. I thought the actors who played his three-man crew were great, too. But I also liked Christian Bale. I read a review that said he was the weak link in the movie, and I completely disagree. I thought he was fascinating.

 

The movie is entertaining and I learned quite a bit about the housing collapse. I definitely recommend it.

[BabyVegas]

I read a review that said he was the weak link in the movie, and I completely disagree. I thought he was fascinating.

 

I thought if anyone was the weak link it was Brad Pitt. His character was just sort of...there for me. I could think of five other actors that could have been dropped into his role and it wouldn't have made a difference. But then again, I've never really liked Brad Pitt as an actor. 

[Hanahope]

I think the most successful aspect of the movie is the way McKay initially frames it as a story about prophets in the wilderness, but in the final third gradually peels off the distorting effects of the POV and shows that ultimately these guys are just looking to cash in on people's misery (this actually could have gone further; in promoting the use of credit default swaps, Burry and co. arguably made it worse).  They didn't cause the underlying problem, of course, but they aren't in any sense trying to fix the problem or even (with one exception) call attention to it.

 

I read  the book on which the movie is based and the book did make it seem that (at least) one of the guys did try to point out to the bank(s) the inherent problem of what was going on, including how ludicrous it is to loan money to people who have no money and expect them to be able to pay it back.  But at that time, everyone kept thinking housing would keep going up and up and never come down, so they were ignored.  When that happened, they shrugged their shoulders and said, ok, I guess we'll just make money off of it and eventually, you'll be out of a job.  I never thought that perhaps by the continuing to 'short' the industry, that may have actually hastened the collapse, which would likely have happened anyway, just maybe not as fast, or caused as much immediate devastation.

 

I'm glad the movie explains things well, the book was a bit cerebral and I had to reread some parts a couple times to fully understand the concepts.  Now I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

[methodwriter85]

I enjoyed it, but man, it depressed me. My mother got a subprime mortgage on our house back in 2005 (OUCH!) and it's been a struggle for 10 years to keep it. I remember saying when she got it, "My mom's a gambling addict in a dead-end job...this is a bad idea", but my siblings kept saying, "But she should have a house to show something for her life!" The end result is that ten years later, after three refinances, my mother has absolutely no equity in an old 1980's home that she can't afford to fix up in a neighborhood that's going to pot.

 

I honestly don't think I'm ever going to buy a house, unless it's a tiny house.

 

In any event, I thought the movie did a great job of capturing the Greed, but I thought they should have included clips of shows like House Hunters, Flip This House, Trading Spaces, etc etc to really sell the whole "house mania" deal of the mid-2000's.

[Hanahope]

Yeah, the housing bubble hurt a lot of people, even those that tried to 'do right.'  My husband and I waited until we actually had some money saved up and steady jobs before buying a house, which was in 2007.  Now that was an ouch because we ended up buying at the peak and our house has done nothing but lose value since we bought it.  We're not 'underwater', but only just barely (well, sometimes it depends on the month) and have pretty much no equity, it was completely lost in the bubble burst.  At least we were smart enough to stay in our budget and didn't get talked into borrowing an extra $100,000 or more that our broker was pushing on us with 'creative financing.'  Of course, because we have no equity, we can't buy another house because we have don't have enough for a new down payment.

[methodwriter85]

On the other hand, my sister managed to get a three-bedroom 1990's house on 5 acres of land in 2008 on the East Coast for 284k because the previous owner died and the housing market was dead. Some people came out way ahead. It's gotta be worth at least mid-300's by now.

[Ms Blue Jay]

What I don't get is the accolades for Ryan Gosling's acting.  Maybe the styling of him distracted me way too much, but I was definitely not impressed by his acting here. 

 

I was so impressed by Carell and Bale.  It's just too bad Bale didn't have a bigger part to show more of it.  I'm a big fan of Hamish Linklater who was part of Carell's crew and now I like the guy who played the gum-chewing Vinny, too.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[Eyes High]

It felt like there were some tonal issues. On the one hand, you have Carell's character Baum wringing his hands about the horrible tragedy of it all and struggling with the death of his brother, but on the other hand, you have some very glib, fratty humour and moments you'd expect on a bad sitcom. Baum insisting to his wife that he was perfectly fine while getting into a shouting match over claiming a taxi cab was a good example, or Gosling's character Vennett shouting in the bathroom about how he's "jacked to the TITS" and shooing out possible eavesdroppers only to discover that someone was in a stall and overheard the whole thing. You have the beautiful, breezy humour of the cutaways: as a foodie, Anthony Bourdain's three-day-old halibut analogy was a particular favourite of mine (don't order fish stew on Sundays, people). On the other hand, you have two formerly starry-eyed young traders sadly and soberly wandering through the wreckage of Lehman Brothers. The film wanted to be both Ocean's Eleven (slick, funny, stylish) and Concussion (earnest, hardhitting, self-serious, capital-i Important); that aspect didn't work. 

 

With all that said, I loved the explanations of financial terminology, and the way in which they were done. I also loved the choice of Gosling's character Vennett (a fictionalized Greg Lippman) as the narrator. There were some particularly brilliant bits. When Jamie and Charlie happen across Vennett's predictions in the bank lobby, I remember thinking "Yeah, that seems incredibly contrived and unlikely," and Vennett immediately chimed in with a swift reassurance that it didn't actually happen that way. I also loved Vennett commenting on Baum standing up at the CDO forum to challenge the presenter on his rosy predictions, after specifically warning Baum not to say anything, with a put-upon "This actually happened. Now you see what I had to deal with." Fourth wall-breaking humour is an acquired taste, but I liked the camera asides better than all the camera asides in House of Cards (the US show, anyway) put together.

 

Jeremy Strong as Vinnie Daniel (Daniels?) was great. Very intense, very charismatic presence. He was the only actor of the three playing Baum's  associates who seemed like he could go toe to toe with Gosling and Carell without getting blown off the screen. Hamish Linklater and Rafe Spall--who, to be fair, were underwritten in comparison--seemed like lightweights next to him.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Eyes High

[Shannon L.]

I thought this was a great movie and am recommending it to all of my friends and family.  The tonal issues didn't bother me at all and I thought everyone did a great job with their parts.  The only problem I have with Steve Carrell is that his voice is so distinctive that I can never fully forget that it's him.  I thought they handled the fourth wall really well so that I wasn't bothered by it. 

 

I thought if anyone was the weak link it was Brad Pitt. His character was just sort of...there for me. I could think of five other actors that could have been dropped into his role and it wouldn't have made a difference. But then again, I've never really liked Brad Pitt as an actor.

I'm not sure what else could have been done with the character.  He was pretty low key the whole time and, while important, not a main character. I thought he did a good job when he was chastising the guys about celebrating.  That's what I liked about Baum:  while he did profit from it, he did seem sick over what was going to happen.

[lookeyloo]

We saw it yesterday and thought it was well done and tried to explain the situation in a way to appeal to movie goers - but it horrified us that thing are proceeding as usual.  I thought Bale and Carell were excellent.  Mark Baum wasn't a real person - Steve Eisman is who he is based on. 

 

http://www.bustle.com/articles/127589-what-does-the-real-mark-think-of-the-big-short-steve-carells-character-helped-out-the

[truelovekiss]

I thought if anyone was the weak link it was Brad Pitt. His character was just sort of...there for me. I could think of five other actors that could have been dropped into his role and it wouldn't have made a difference. But then again, I've never really liked Brad Pitt as an actor.

I agree with this. I think having Brad Pitt in this movie was solely to add another big name to the cast list. He really fell flat for me.

[truelovekiss]

In any event, I thought the movie did a great job of capturing the Greed, but I thought they should have included clips of shows like House Hunters, Flip This House, Trading Spaces, etc etc to really sell the whole "house mania" deal of the mid-2000's.

Adding clips from those shows would have been an excellent idea! They did a good job showing how Home ownership was being sold as the American Dream, and how people who couldn't afford it were misled to believe that they could.

[truelovekiss]

What I don't get is the accolades for Ryan Gosling's acting. Maybe the styling of him distracted me way too much, but I was definitely not impressed by his acting here.

I was so impressed by Carell and Bale. It's just too bad Bale didn't have a bigger part to show more of it. I'm a big fan of Hamish Linklater who was part of Carell's crew and now I like the guy who played the gum-chewing Vinny, too.

When Ryan Gosling first turned to the camera and did his talking to the audience thing, I rolled my eyes, because I was not in the mood to watch Wolf of Wall Street II. Thankfully, it did not go that way! It wasn't anything momentous, but I thought Ryan Gosling did a good job with it.

Steve Carrell was absolutely the standout, and his whole squad was just great, especially Vinny. I can't say enough how great I thought Steve was. Jamie and Charlie were good too, I thought they were funny.

[methodwriter85]

Adding clips from those shows would have been an excellent idea! They did a good job showing how Home ownership was being sold as the American Dream, and how people who couldn't afford it were misled to believe that they could.

I did really like the real estate agents played by Blond Norse God (a.k.a. Billy Magnussen) and Max Greenfield. They were dead-on for the time period.

 

I was a huge fan of House Hunters and Flip This House back in 2005, 2006 and I cringe to think about what happened to the people who invested in places like Las Vegas and Florida back in 2006.

 

One show reference I really did like was The Hills. It's been said that as the economy tanked, shows like the Hills felt less relevant, and things like Jersey Shore came into flavor as a result.

Edited January 5, 2016 by methodwriter85

[Eyes High]

I did really like the real estate agents played by Blond Norse God (a.k.a. Billy Magnussen) and Max Greenfield. They were dead-on for the time period.

 

I was a huge fan of House Hunters and Flip This House back in 2005, 2006 and I cringe to think about what happened to the people who invested in places like Las Vegas and Florida back in 2006.

 

One show reference I really did like was The Hills. It's been said that as the economy tanked, shows like the Hills felt less relevant, and things like Jersey Shore came into flavor as a result.

 

One thing I loved was the use of the Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up" at Charlie's spin class in 2008. Not only was that song everywhere at that time, it was also exactly the sort of song to be used at a high-energy spin class. Brought me right back. (On the other hand, I'm not sure if the timing lines up, because the song was released May 27th, 2008, but eh, it worked.)

 

I did roll my eyes a little at the shots of the various characters being affected by the crisis: evicted Miami dude living out of his car with his family, Greenfield and Magnussen's characters at a job fair, one of Michael Burry's former employees restocking the shelves at a grocery store (after Burry closed down Scion and presumably fired him), etc. Dude, we get it. The average viewer would assume all those things would happen, anyway. Showing it was overkill and added nothing.

 

Another bit of sophomoric humour I didn't like that felt like a vestigial remnant of McKay's Anchorman days: Brad Pitt's character feeding Jamie and Charlie a salad made out of homegrown veggies and cheerily mentioning that he uses urine in the soil (cut to Charlie and Jamie exchanging a look and stopping midbite). Come on, dude. X chowing down eagerly on food until Y blithely mentions something gross is in the food, causing X to react, is a very old, very cheap joke. Do better.

 

I also seem to recall a voiceover from Bale's Michael Burry earlier in the film where he talks about his difficulties relating to other people that was not great, although I'm not 100% sure. I thought the film did a great job in showing those difficulties without Burry telling us, and Bale did a really good job in conveying that Burry had problems in that area at other points in the film merely in his mannerisms and delivery. Show, don't tell. It felt like the writers assumed that without the preamble from Burry explaining his social awkwardness, Burry would come off as an arrogant prick genius type out of an Aaron Sorkin movie when he went on about being right and refused to charm his investors or his employees. However, I think that they should have trusted that Bale, one of the best actors of his generation in my opinion, was sufficiently gifted to convey Burry's social awkwardness (and Asperger's, although this is never mentioned in the film) without feeling the need to explain it to us. It is true that in that one scene, Burry says something to an interview candidate that could come across as horribly rude--I can't remember exactly what--but I'm not convinced that it needed context, since a sufficiently talented actor could give the line a reading that indicated that the meaning was innocent and Burry didn't mean to give offence. I don't blame them for writing the voiceover, but they should have cut it once Bale came on board.

 

I felt that in the hands of a less capable actor, the Michael Burry of the film would have come across as irredeemably awful, cold and arrogant, crowing about his status as a doctor and refusing to pay attention to his investors, someone who would seem more suited to an Aaron Sorkin project (supersmart assholes are his wheelhouse). However, Bale was so good that he captured the sadness and loneliness of the character without ever downplaying his intelligence. Another danger is that the moment an actor knows that their character has Asperger's--and Bale, who met Burry in real life and researched him, would know all about Burry's condition--some actors go overboard in trying to appear like robots. Bale never succumbed to this temptation. His Burry isn't prone to passionate rants like Carell's Baum, but there's no doubt that he feels deeply. It was a beautiful performance from a great actor.

Edited January 5, 2016 by Eyes High

[Bruinsfan]

Another bit of sophomoric humour I didn't like that felt like a vestigial remnant of McKay's Anchorman days: Brad Pitt's character feeding Jamie and Charlie a salad made out of homegrown veggies and cheerily mentioning that he uses urine in the soil (cut to Charlie and Jamie exchanging a look and stopping midbite). Come on, dude. X chowing down eagerly on food until Y blithely mentions something gross is in the food, causing X to react, is a very old, very cheap joke. Do better.

Apart from the juvenile tone of the joke, are that many people really ignorant about what exactly goes into fertilizing crops? I've always known that's not Play Doh I'm washing off my farm-grown tomatoes...

[Ms Blue Jay]

Blond Norse God (a.k.a. Billy Magnussen)

 

He's going to be Kato Kaelin!!!!!!!!  Sorry, I am really excited about it.  Hahah.

 

I still love House Hunters.  It probably helps that I live in Canada and can watch from afar without worrying so much about the repercussions.... yet I do still kind of worry.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Ms Blue Jay

[ChelseaNH]

Finally managed to see this.  I had read the book, which has a ton of information, so I was curious to see how they adapted it.  The result is sort of a collage, which I liked.  I think the tonal shifts are appropriate because no one walks into that situation and immediately sees the full scope and all the implications.

 

BTW, there are no checks in place to keep this from happening all over again.

 

I thought if anyone was the weak link it was Brad Pitt.

 

He took a small part to help get the movie made.

[Nidratime]

Just saw this yesterday. Although I didn't understand every detail, I understood enough to be as disgusted as I was during the actual meltdown in 2008. The celebrity explanatory bits were very clever because -- as I recall -- the movie made the point that most people found information about the financial markets a complete bore, let alone stuff about mortgages and so it was easy to pull the wool over people's eyes on a vast scale. Therefore, the celebrity bits made the point that we *will* pay attention to celebrities and listen to them. It's like you have to put "the shiny and pretty" before us to shove the castor oil down our throats.

[methodwriter85]

It's just depressing to watch, when you think of all the lives that were ruined...EXCEPT for the bankers that caused this. And how the Republican party, which is all about state's rights and small governments and laissez-faire, basically violated all pretenses of their supposed beliefs to push the bank bailout.

 

I do think it'll take the generation after the Millennials before this can happen again...my generation is pretty cautious as hell when it comes to home buying, due to shaky market conditions and the massive student loan debt. I'll give it about 25-30 years before this happens again, when post-Millennials are driving everything.

Edited January 18, 2016 by methodwriter85

[Shannon L.]

I saw 99 Homes recently and, after seeing that and this one, I was so disgusted by the whole thing situation.  It's infuriating.  I took my 17 year old to see it (it was my second viewing) and afterward, we talked about buying houses and how to be very careful when doing so.  I hope this never happens again.  I even said on FB that this movie should be required viewing in high school senior economic classes.

[truelovekiss]

I even said on FB that this movie should be required viewing in high school senior economic classes.

First there should probably be mandatory economic classes in high school! Seriously, when I graduated high school, I had no idea what a credit score was, and only the most basic idea about what insurance, mortgages, etc were. And I took the only finance class available. It was personal finance, taught by a 22 teacher who spent 90% of the semester talking about her student losns and 10% having us do little skits where we created a commercial for household items. But the educational system in America isn't part of this movie :)

I do agree with you though, and I would love to encourage people (especially young people) to watch this movie and take the chance to learn something about the economy.

[Shannon L.]

 

First there should probably be mandatory economic classes in high school!

There is in my kids' school!  I was surprised when I heard it.  I had to take one, too, but that was in 1987, and I know a lot of subjects have been dropped over the years. 

 

 

I do agree with you though, and I would love to encourage people (especially young people) to watch this movie and take the chance to learn something about the economy.

I think they should also see Concussion, 99 Homes, a documentary called Fed Up and maybe even Spotlight.  Besides having to do with important topics on their own, they also show what big money (and in Spotlight, a huge organization--although the Catholic church also has a lot of money, too, I guess) can be capable of. 

 

Topic:  I was surprised, though not displeased, to see The Big Short win the PGA.  Before that, I would have put money on Spotlight winning the Oscar (also, something that wouldn't displease me--I thought they were both excellent), but now I'm not so sure.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Shannon L.

[Traveller519]

After wanting to see this one for over a month I finally got around to it last night, and enjoyed it. I thought it did a very good job of explaining everything, and identifying the fraud that was going on with the back end of the deal.

 

It's hard not to contrast with the Wolf of Wall Street (which predates the 2008 collapse) and Margin Call (which I thought was an excellent movie, but existed solely from the Bank's perspective). I liked that it explained the financial things instead of hand-waving them away like The Wolf of Wall Street. I wish movies would give the audience more credit at times, and this treated Finance for its audience like the Martian did Science for its audience. The Big Short didn't do quite as good of a job of graying everyone's characters as Margin Call did though. We still very much felt like we had heroes in this one.

 

I agree with everyone saying Jeremy Scott's Vinnie was a standout performance in this one. Looking back over his IMDB page he has made some very good choices in the roles he plays. I hope to see much more of him.