The Big Short

— I expected to like “The Big Short” with its great cast, worthwhile premise, and great reviews. Well, it’s pretty good, except it has the indignation of a Michael Moore documentary, an uncomfortable humor, gives a nod to Frank Underwood and his penchant for speaking to the audience, and includes cameos by varied celebrities who help viewers understand financial terminology. Or maybe because of it—at least with the cutaways and the humor, there’s no mistaking this for a documentary. The film seems like a mixed bag of tricks and, in its fervor to point fingers, it identifies everyone except those who were hurt as culpable. It’s the methodology employed by the protagonists as they come to understand what’s happening that makes the film work. First it’s a numbers game derived from printouts and statistics that leads to the realization that the housing market could implode but, as the film goes on and the main characters begin to bet on the implosion, the faces of the greedy financial traders and the clueless sellers and advisers, along with so many overextended and greedy homeowners, makes the millions made on the implosion by the film's protagonists perhaps more legal but not necessarily ethical.

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[2015. 103 min. Directed by Adam McKay. Starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.]
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-big-short-2015