Viccars' Film Review - The Big Short

The Big Short (2016)

Director: Adam McKay

Writer: Adam McKay, Charles Randolph

Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt.

Genre: Bio, Drama.

When watching The Big Short, a movie based on Michael Lewis’s book, I could see the similarities with The Wolf of Wall Street. The narrative style and breaking of the 4th wall are all very similar. But instead of using the same narrator (Ryan Goslings character Jared Vennett) throughout the film, Adam unfortunately chose to explain complex financial jargon using celebrity faces, one of which being Margot Robbie in a bubble bath, whom starred in The Wolf of Wall Street (seriously? Think we wouldn’t catch on to that one Adam?), and then later with Selena Gomez playing Blackjack. These cameos take me out of the movie and didn’t seem necessary, they should of put Ryan Gosling in that bubble bath sipping champagne, that would of made more sense.

It’s shame because the underlying story of the stock market crash in 2008 is a seriously interesting. The performances given by Steve Carell playing Mark Baum, the only man with a conscience, was the standout for me. He depicted how awfully ignorant the whole system was and knowing the underlying truth, this is a standout performance from the previously comedic actor(this guy played Brick for crying out loud!). Also another performance worth a mention is Cristian Bales depiction of aloof genius Michael Burry, a hedge fund manager whom blasts out heavy metal and walks about the office bare foot and clenching drum sticks, betting against the American economy all the while being under extreme pressure by his investors.

Unfortunately the film had all the makings of being a great but falls short when it came to the execution, I felt the film didn’t need any of the celebrity cameos breaking the 4th wall that could have easily been executed by the stories narrator Ryan Gosling character, the typically stereotypical arrogant banker. I can’t tell you how gutted I am for this movie as the underlying story, is really something of interest, the script written by Adam McKay and Charles Randolph’s seemed to have created something decent but it seemed like the movie was too busy and needed to just be simple, focussing on the story at hand.

★★☆☆☆

by Paul Viccars

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