Dumb Money

What a remarkably quick turnaround in producing Dumb Money, by the way. Telling the quite unbelievable tale of the GameStop stock hoopla of a couple of years ago, the fact that Craig Gillespie has managed to assemble THIS cast and tell the story THIS well is almost enough to take attention away from the film itself.

Luckily, the film itself more than matches all of the above and is another in a growing line of ‘anti-establishment’, ‘punk rock’ movies to make you think more than twice about how the world works. Stand up at the back The Big Short, Eye In The Sky, Vice, The Social Network et al. and greet your newest classmate.

These types of ‘office thriller’ films are always winners and this is another ‘you couldn’t write it’ true story that is absolutely riveting from start to finish.

Like the aforementioned The Big Short, it can be tough to follow at times. That isn’t the film’s fault; short squeezes, stock market fluctuations and hedge funds are complicated entities by their very nature but the script does a pretty good job of squeezing the exposition in at logical and convenient intervals to give you enough information as to what is going on. No need for Margot Robbie in a bathtub in this one.

The portmanteau narrative structure whereby none of the main characters in their respective story strands actually meet (and not just because of lockdown restrictions) works surprisingly well as well, with no segment of the film lagging behind the other in terms of interest.

It doesn’t quite have the perfect resolution, likely owing to the fact that this is an ongoing story, and you get the sense that there is a lot more to understand and uncover here generally but it is an eye-opening, enjoyable, tense and engaging film and one sure to get conversations started and middle fingers raised.

Simply, essential viewing in more ways than one.

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