Four denizens in the world of high-finance predict the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s, and decide to take on the big banks for their greed and lack of foresight. Based on the book by Michael Lewis.

Starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling

Directed by Adam McKay

I was very very close to rating this one an “at least once” watch, but given the circumstances, I think this one is important to our society. I won’t go on a political/class warfare rant on how big business ruins things. You’ll have to see this movie for yourself and decide. It does a really great job at keeping the watcher informed. The style of narration is hilarious and keeps you in the loop. A lot of the terms and situations are downright confusing if you’re not an investment banker, but they kept my interest peeked throughout. My only criticism is that the shots are somewhat choppy, which I think they did on purpose for style, but sometimes end up distracting us from what is really going on. I did however enjoy the cut and paste imagery of pop culture references throughout. That was brilliantly placed to remind us of the age we are looking at. They seem to be somewhat random, but give a good happy-go-lucky snapshot feeling of society before the occurrence.

This is a performance driven show. The script was written perfectly for the cast. It was like they wrote it with Carell in mind. Ryan Gosling definitely delivers as a cocky business brat. It seemed Christian Bale took a backseat for extremities, but he is always a sure bet.

This is the kind of movie that will make you cringe at the end, so get ready for that (not like you didn’t know what was coming). The tone totally changes and it seems like a downer, but it is important that it play out in that manner as the situation makes for reality. It is after all a true story.

~ Watch Trailer ~