Movie Review: The Big Short
While on our trip to Napa Valley we spent our last evening in Santa Clara at the movie theater. This is something that Jenn and I did often on mini vacations with her parents and the tradition has continued with the two of us. We went to a theater called the Roxy Theater a couple of miles from our hotel in Santa Clara to see the movie The Big Short starring more actors then I care to list.
The Big Short is about the housing crisis of 2008 and a group of people (mostly men) who got rich off the crash. The movie is equal parts about their success as much as it is about the warning signs and corruption that led to the demise. What I found fascinating about The Big Short was how it was shot. I’ve never seen a movie shot quite like The Big Short. It felt like a more artistic take on the docu-drama style that was made popular in shows like The Office and Parks and Recreation. Often characters would break the fourth wall and talk to the camera.
There were a handful of times that the movie would drop all pretenses of being a movie and cut to another celebrity like Anthony Bordain or Selena Gomez to explain a complex financial situation in the simplest terms possible. Although it felt a little like pandering to the audience it was an interesting way to try and get their message across. I think I would have preferred them just tell me it in simple English but I found some of the breaks in the movie to be helpful.
The Big Short is a weird but enjoyable movie. With stars like Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Steve Carrell and Ryan Gossling there is a ton of star power in this movie. I think all of the big actors bring in good performances for what is a good movie. I was entertained for the entire two hours and felt more informed about the housing crisis then I did before seeing this movie. It even had me doing my own small amount of research after the movie to see how much of this was still going on in our current economy and the sad truth is a lot of it is. Although I wasn’t in love with some of the artistic choices that the director made I absolutely enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to all. Do I think it will win the Oscar for best movie? No. But I think it’s a solid movie about a topic that everyone needs to understand better.
