The Big Short, a newly released Hollywood film about the 2007–2008 crash, has so far performed well at the box office and received acclaimed reviews – it features several big stars although it deals with a subject many perhaps would rather sooner forget.
Brad Pitt, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling star in a tale about a group of Wall Street “outsiders” involved in a scheme to cash in on the housing crash they had successfully predicted.
The based-on-a-true-story plot is highly critical of Wall Street bankers, specifically those of the Goldman Sachs variety, according to Business Insider’s Julia La Roche, but that’s not the main problem with the film:
“Wall Street won’t like it because ultimately the movie is a poorly executed explainer of the 2007-2008 financial crisis.”
La Roche’s main complaint with The Big Short is that the film fails in its tactic of including cameos by celebrities such as Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez – who are somehow expected to explain the finer aspects of financial theory to the audience.
Yeah, I can see where that might fall a little flat.
The film is based on the best-selling book by Michael Lewis, and despite La Roche’s criticisms, she did refer to the acting as “stellar,” leaving this writer thinking that it might be worth seeing after all.
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