"The Big Short" (movie critique)

THE BIG SHORT
movie poster

The Friday Movie Mavens and The Travelling Toe went to the local multiplex to see "The Big Short".  The movie is based on the book of the same name by Michael Lewis.  And the book is based on actual events. The book stayed on "The New York Times" bestseller non-fiction list for 28 weeks.

Michael Lewis
author

The Big Short
book cover

Do you remember the stock market crash in 2007?  This movie shows how the stock market took such a drastic drive and why.  

It begins with the housing market.  Home construction was booming all across the country, and many people were investing in the real estate market.  After all you never lose money on a real estate deal, do you?  But what most investors and even some brokers did not know or understand was that the big banks and brokerage firms were bundling AAA type mortgage loans with sub-prime loans. such as B, BB,BBB.  Mortgage loans were being made to people with no or bad credit history, other credit issues and no job. So when the lower end of the economy could not make their mortgage payments, the dominoes began to fall and a ripple effect was felt across the whole economic system.  But there were a few traders who bet against the bubble and saw the bust coming.  These were the short sellers.  And when the bubble did burst, these groups of contrarians make beau-coup of money. 

Now that is a simplified overview of the book and the movie.  You will have to read the book or see the movie to find out all the juicy details.  But you will remember when all the trading companies were laying off stockbrokers and houses were being foreclosed in the hundreds each month and unemployment was high.  The sad side of this whole ordeal is that none of the big CEO's who knew what was happening went to jail.  "Gordon Gekko" would have been proud of them - as yes they were all greedy.

Adam McKay
director

One interesting technique that the director, Adam McKay, used was for an actor in the middle of a scene to turn toward the camera and give audience members an aside about what was really happening or about to happen or that if this is the truth of the situation. There are many funny bits in this movie which were unexpected considering the story-line.

CAST

Ryan Gosling
Jared Vennett

Brad Pitt
Ben Ricket

Christian Bale
Michael Burry



Side Note:  this movie has been nominated for an Oscar.

Steve Carell
Mark Baum

Disclaimer:  The Travelling Toe is not a professional critic and any opinions expressed are for entertainment purposes only.