REVIEW: The Big Short

Courtesy of Paramount

Some movie fans have expressed shock upon learning that Adam McKay, writer and director of ridiculous comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers, is also capable of an angry, scathing and darkly hilarious screed that turned out to be one of 2015’s best films. But those people have clearly never seen The Other Guys, the action comedy he made with Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

During the closing credits, he used animated infographics to concisely explain why the bankers who orchestrated the 2008 collapse of the global economy should be in jail. Honestly, American taxpayers should’ve been marching down Wall Street with torches and pitchforks. In hindsight, that played as a warmup for The Big Short, his first foray into more dramatic territory. It’s still hilarious, but in a “laugh so you don’t cry” way.

McKay and his co-writer Charles Randolph cover similar ground in greater, far more infuriating detail. Viewers learn that years before the global collapse, a handful of financial gurus (Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and several others) realized the housing market was growing more unstable by the day.

To profit off banks’ hubris, they devised a way to bet against them – meaning if the housing bubble burst, they stood to make unfathomable amounts of cash. It was a great plan until they realized they weren’t getting get paid with the banks’ money. Instead, thanks to a massive government bailout, it came straight from the pockets of American taxpayers.

A complex story like this runs the risk of being incredibly confusing or – even worse – boring. Instead, McKay and Randolph’s brilliant screenplay (which they adapted from Michael Lewis’ nonfiction bestseller), brought to life by actors’ blistering performances, is wildly entertaining. Carell and Gosling deliver some of the best work of their careers, while Bale and Pitt excel in equally compelling but less showy roles.

Thanks to Hank Corwin’s propulsive editing, the movie is far more energetic than the material suggests. What’s more, The Big Short makes sure to carefully define intentionally baffling financial lingo and puts us squarely on the side of the smartest people in the room. As such, viewers get to feel brainy too. In another ingenious touch, characters constantly break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience to point out important things as they go.

However, McKay doesn’t let us completely off the hook; he fumes that a big reason bankers got away with such blatant fraud and corruption is because Americans were too busy obsessing over celebrity culture, reality television and other vapid distractions to notice. So he rubs our noses in our misplaced priorities by having Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez stop the movie to explain complex economic theory. It’s simultaneously hilarious and mortifying.

In making average moviegoers care about financial regulations and economics, McKay has pulled off a fascinating magic trick. Even more miraculous, you’re having such a good time that you don’t even realize how furious you are until the movie’s over. It practically induces whiplash.

The Big Short is rated R for pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity.

Grade: A-