The Big Short

The big short is a hard movie to sell to people because its talking about a subject matter that is incredibly convoluted and incredibly hard to explain. They even address this in the movie (Best Margot Robbie Cameo EVER!). I even had to push myself to watch this movie when it was on Netflix because I knew that it was going to be a very convoluted movie that I would have to actually stay focused and pay attention to.

But good lord, this is an important movie. I don't say that very much but this is a movie that is relevant and important to the world we live in today.

The Big Short is a film all focused on the 2007 and 2008 financial crisis triggered by the United States Housing Bubble. The story is told from the perspective of some of the very few people that saw this coming before hand and what they did in reaction to it.

The movie follows a couple of characters, namely two Hedge fund managers named Michael Burry (played by Christian Bale) and Mark Baum (played by Steve Carrell), a Wallstreet Salesman named Jared Vennett (played by Ryan Gosling) and two up and coming investors named Charlie Gellar (played by John Magaro) and Jaime Shipley (played by Finn Wittrock) assisted by their mentor, Ben Rickert (played by Brad Pitt).

As you can see, there are a lot of players in this movie and they all have the foreknowledge to see the impending burst of the housing bubble. They all have their own motivations for wanting to bet against a market that has never lost in the past and it doesn't take long for them to realize how big of a shorting of the market this has the potential to be.

The first thing to say about this movie is that yes, this is a very convoluted subject. It is confusing, there is going to be parts in this movie that you do not understand because they really don't Barney-fy this movie's subject matter.

But like I said, the movie is very aware that you're probably not going to understand the subject matter and they do whatever they can to make this movie digestible enough that you can understand what the hell they are talking about. They have cut aways explaining the situation as it comes up and puts it in a context that is understandable and makes you feel like you're at least getting a little bit of it. These cutaways are humorous with some funny cameos but at the same time they keep you up to speed and actually make you learn something.

And that's the other thing about this movie. I learned a lot from it. Yeah there was a lot I still don't know about the Housing Crisis of 2008 and there's a lot of this movie I'm completely clueless about, but this movie filled me in and that's why this movie is incredibly important. This is not just something that happened, this is something that happened less than a decade ago and its still happening today.

It's the kind of movie that knocks down what you think you believe and makes you want to research more into this incident. At the very least, this movie should be able to give enough context to make some informed decisions and make you feel pissed off over a situation that was just down right wrong and affected a lot of people.

So overall, the true star of this movie is the message. It is backed up by a lot of good performances which I will talk about but the main thing that you get out of this movie is a lesson on the 2008 Financial Crisis and everything leading up to it. I'm slowly realizing it, but the quality of movies from 2015 was really high caliber. With this movie and then Spotlight, it makes me want to finally come around and check out all the Best Picture Nominees of last year. (I guess its about time right?)

And when I say a lot of good performances, I'm not joking. They really didn't pull any punches with the talent they were bringing out. Of course you have the top billing names like Gosling, Carrell, Pitt, and Bale, all who are actors who don't usually phone it in and are a lot of fun. But then you have the less known actors like your Magaro and Wittrock and they really bring a lot to this film. And while these characters are not as connected as I originally thought they were when this movie first came out, when they do play off one another they're really great.

I also love how the reasons one person is exploiting this bubble is different than the next. Some of them are doing it because they see an opportunity to make a lot of money. Others are doing it to stick it to the institutions and banks that think they are too big to fail. Regardless of the reason, there is an underlying theme throughout the film that points out the hypocrisy in the entire thing. While they are able to profit from a corrupt system and they are not the bad guys, that doesn't necessarily make them good.

There are moments throughout the film where they point to the real victims of the 2008 Financial crisis and it actually is pretty heartbreaking.

Adam Mckay is the director of this film and besides the message, which I still think is at the forefront of this film, he is the true star here.

In case you don't know, McKay up until now was mainly known for his work in comedies like Anchorman, Step Brothers, Talladega Nights and The Other Guys. But suddenly he's put in charge of a film about the 2008 financial crisis?

On top of that, he freaking nails it?
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At the end of the day, Alejandro whats his face who directed the Revenant used all this natural light and what have you but McKay was able to tell a fascinating story and educate me more than any movie has in the past few years. That is quite a feat. I don't quite know who I would have chosen to take the Best Director award but McKay is higher on that list than I originally thought he was.

So of all the movies from the Oscar's Best Picture nominees, I still have yet to see Room and Brooklyn. But The Big Short is the one that fired me up the most because it felt the most relevant. I don't know if I would have named it Best Picture over Spotlight, but it just reminds me that most, if not all of these Oscar nominated pictures are nominated for a reason. They're really good movies that make you think and mean something. I hope that 2016 can move past the sub par summer its had and produce some amazing Oscar contending movies in the future.

But for now, The Big Short was a lot of fun, very educational, and supplemented by a great cast, a great director, and a great message. Its on Netflix now so don't waste any time, see this movie!

But those are my thoughts on The Big Short. What did you think of it? Did you pull as much from it as I did? Am I just late to the party and everyone has already seen this movie? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. This is a pretty simple explanation of this movie. Now keep in mind, its an 8 minute YouTube video so don't cite this on any thesis papers. But it might give you a little bit of an idea into what this movie is about and how it all goes down. Enjoy!