Money Monster

Money Monster (2016)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a hot shot financial TV personality who offers up advice on what stocks to buy and which ones to sell. His director (Julia Roberts) is on her last show when they've scored an interview with a big CEO but when he backs out they don't realize how worst the day is going to get. Soon Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell) bursts into their studio and on live television he takes over the show carrying a gun and a bomb.

MONEY MONSTER comes from director Jodie Foster and I must admit that I went into it with incredibly high expectations. Whether people like it or not Clooney had done many great movies and delivered many great performances over the past decade so I thought with him and Foster together we'd get a hard-hitting drama that would take down the ugly side of Wall Street. Well, the movie was entertaining while you watched it but afterwards I couldn't help but feel extremely disappointed because when you get down to it the film was pretty shallow.

There's a great film hidden somewhere in here but it seems that they had to simple everything down so that your average viewer wouldn't get lost. I can only imagine what this could have been if someone like the late Sidney Lumet had been able to make it and the screenplay was allowed to be much more hard hitting and really go after the bad guys. This film starts off on a highly unlikely plot device (getting into the studio so easily) and by the final act it completely falls apart with its rather stupid plot twists.

With that said, the movie is still slightly entertaining to a point. Foster does a good job in her directing duties but there's no question that a new screenplay was needed. Both Clooney and Roberts work extremely well together and both give fine performances. Clooney does a good job at playing the charm but as the drama builds he also manages to sell that. O'Connell is also very good in his role of the man who finds himself in a desperate place so he reaches for a rather dumb idea.

MONEY MONSTER has its heart in the right place but it just seems like one of those movies that doesn't want to be too serious or too finger pointing and instead of any hard hitting drama and questions we're just left with a rather mindless action film with an unlikely plot. It's really too bad because with the talent involved this should have been so much better.

In Money Monster, George Clooney plays a TV presenter who is taken hostage live on camera by a desperate young man played by the brilliant Jack O'Connell. I really enjoyed this film; finding it thrilling and well paced throughout. However, it falls short of being completely satisfying.

Six months ago, The Big Short - a far superior film - attempted to tackle the full complexity of the 2008 financial crisis and its causes and did so in a way that was both enlightening and entertaining. Money Monster is more like Phone Booth. In this movie the credit crunch is merely the setting for a tense thrill ride; which is OK except it feels like it's aiming to be more substantial.

I've heard Jodie Foster, the director, say that the seventies will always be her favourite era because movies took such risks back then. Her key influences here are clearly Network and Dog Day Afternoon. Perhaps this is the problem. It feels like a 1970s style take on a 21st Century issue. Thanks in part to other recent movies we already have a more sophisticated appreciation of the reality of the financial sector.

But I still really enjoyed Money Monster. George Clooney strikes the right balance as the likable scoundrel who just needs a gun to the head in order to realise how far down the wrong path he has travelled. And Jack O'Connell is probably my favourite actor of this decade. Just as he did in Starred Up or Eden Lake, this young man threatens to break though the screen and grab hold of you. Electrifying.

In the end I see this film as a fable and a romp. It is lots of fun. The ending just seemed a bit Hollywood. If you want to see a film that explores the impact that the financial crisis had on regular people I highly recommend the underrated 99 Homes.

There are a couple of things to note right up front about Money Monster, the first film directed by Jodie Foster in quite some time and reuniting Clooney and Roberts (remember them from the Ocean's Eleven flicks? or, you know, the two they were in together? good times) - first, I think it's important that if you do decide to go see this movie, see it in a theater (I'd say a matinée price works best, maybe not quite full price). It's the kind of movie that Lynda Obst has outlined in her book 'Sleepless in Hollywood' as being as something of an endangered species: the middle budget Hollywood genre movie with some big name stars and a plot that's appealing to a mass audience (so it's not quite an "indie" movie, but it's not something that crosses 100 million with elaborate special effects).

Though these movies became a bit tiring (or more than a bit depending on who you are) by the early 00's, in the landscape where there's either comic book movies (Marvel, DC, etc) or comic book movies in look and tone as franchises (Fast & Furious, Hunger Games, etc), a story like this where a guy holds a Jim Kramer type of cable 'news' personality and his crew hostage on live TV seems almost refreshing, at least as far as being something that's only pretense is that, you know, the economy collapsed not too long ago and confidence in things like the stock market should suck (though it seemed to have rebounded not too soon after 2008), and it's made professionally.

The other thing to note here is that just because it's a highly entertaining dramatic thriller as far as the nuts-and-bolts of such a thing are put together - the actors are just right, with Roberts being the anchor for things to not get out of control as the director of the show, and even small players like Dominic West as the CEO of the company that (seemingly) screwed over Jack O'Connell's gun-and-bomb toting show hijacker, and Clooney's Clooney so that's good - it doesn't meant there aren't flaws.

You've seen this before if you've seen, I don't know, Dog Day Afternoon or John Q (the latter's lessor than this but you may get an idea, the "Just hostage-taker" scenario), and even Inside Man, which featured Foster in a supporting role. Things to do with logic like the amount of security that should/would be in an area where a major cable show is being produced, or how the whole last third unfolds (and if you've seen the trailer, and it's hard to avoid it if you've been to the movies in the past few months, it shows you this section in pieces so you anticipate it) is implausible.

But there's a lot of good drama to mine here, and buried underneath its quick and fast-paced plot mechanics it does have something to say about not just how the American people continually get duped into things like going for stocks (or at least the ones who can afford it or try to like O'Connell's working class character), but the power of celebrity. There's a wonderful little scene where Clooney's Lee Gates tries to dissuade this bomb-that's-going-to-go-off scenario by talking to the tens of millions (I should think more, depending on who has cable around the world, but I digress) and appeals to them to contribute money so that the stock can bulk up for the company that screwed over O'Connell's character. It's the kind of performance where it feels like a performance, but in a good way: it's self-knowing and Clooney plays up to it, and when the outcome of this happens (and it's not pleasant) the emphasis on this whole 'image' that Lee Gates has perpetuated comes back to bite him in the ass.

So there's a lot of little sections that work and good character actors sprinkled throughout (Esposito, Jim Warden, John Ventimiglia), and it all boosts up what is fairly conventional and yet everything is there for the drama of this type of movie. Its even funny, in a bleak, sardonic sort of way, in a few moments (and one that's kind of weak, let's say it involves a sort of cream for your area that's, oh nevermind). I wish it was a little more strong with certain story details, but it's comforting in a way even as character yell and curse and stand-offs happen and rise and fall. Put it another way, if you want a less 'cluttered' take on stock fraud than The Big Short, look here, and if you want to spend some time away and to watch something with a few good Hollywood superstars, it's good on that end.

An interesting movie dealing with extreme critique to TV networks with a great cast giving tour-de-force interpretations. Concerning a successul financial TV host named Lee Gates (George Clooney) and his hard-working producer, Patty (Julia Roberts), are put in a thorny situation when an irate investor (Jack O'Connell) who has lost everything takes them and their crew as hostage . During a tense standoff broadcast to millions on live TV, Lee and Patty must work furiously against the clock to unravel the mystery behind a conspiracy at the heart of today's fast-paced and twisted global economy . The captor soon forces the pair to probe a set-up involving the high-tech international markets. The presenter and his kidnapper at the edge of a mental breakdown turn into a celebrities while the program is TV broadcasting and boosts the ratings to such an extent amplitude . Not every conspiracy is a theory. Answer or die. On the air. Out of time. Who's in control ? . Follow The Money. Anyone who can get out, get out right now.

A scathing indictment of the TV industry and its propensily towards ambition , self-prostitution and real critique to corruption of the high-tech global markets . In the real-time, high stakes thriller Money Monster, George Clooney and Julia Roberts star as successful TV presenter Lee Gates and his producer Patty, who are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor forcefully takes over their studio then resulting in paranoia , violence and some unpredictable results. Black satire taking a savage, cruel bite at the American television , its anchormen, the shares that rule the executives who work in it and the powerful international companies what take advantage of modest shareholders . Thought-provoking and ironical script that takes ideas from the prestigious Paddy Chayefsky' s Network. The individual roles are startling well drawn and the interpretation is magnificent. George Clooney is excellent as an excessive and vociferous Television newcaster , though he gives overacting while announces ups and downs at the stock exchange ratings , providing a strident interpretation that threatens to overbalance the movie , at times . While Julia Roberts displays a sober acting as the ambitious executive who will stop at nothing to triumph . Remaining secondary cast is very good such as Dominic West , Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Denham , Lenny Venito , Chris Bauer, Dennis Boutsikaris , and special mention for the attractive Caitríona Balfe as Diane Lester.

It contains an adequate and colorful cinematography by Matthew Libatique , as well as atmospheric musical score by composer Dominic Lewis . The motion picture was magnetically directed by Jodie Foster , providing a lavishly mounted vehicle for three great actors George Clooney , Julia Roberts and Jack O'Connell . Actress/director Jodie Foster has a long career that spans over forty years . Despite the fact that Jodie never took acting lessons, she received two Oscars before she was thirty years of age. She received her first award for her part as Sarah Tobias in Accused (1988) and the second one for her performance as Clarice Starling in The silence of the lambs (1991). Jodie has directed some films with success enough , such as : The Beaver , Home for holidays , Little Tate , and some episodes from known TV series : House of Cards , Tales from the Darkside Stephen King's Golden Tales, Black Mirror , Orange Is the New Black and Tales from the Loop. Money Monster (2016) rating : 6.5/10 . Better than average , well worth watching . The flick will appeal to George Clooney and Jodie Foster fans.

Money Monster is financial crime thriller directed by Jodie Foster. It centers around Lee Gates (George Clooney) a financial reporter and Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), his executive producer as they are in the midst of a hostage situation being run by Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell) as he attempts to get answers as to why 800 million dollars was lost by a financial company that Gates recommended everyone buy stock in.

Being that the majority of the film takes place in a secluded area with our three main characters, Jodie Foster does a great job making sure that the film never feels claustrophobic. Part of this is due to the performances of George Clooney and Jack O'Connell. The two of them spend the majority of the screen time together and they have great chemistry. It almost reminded me of the strange yet surprisingly believable chemistry between Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad. Throughout the hour and forty minute run length, the two of these characters have extremely development that is represented extremely well by the two of their performances. They each portray a believable character as we see under each of their fake personalities and truly digest the fact that they are just regular people.

Throughout the entire film, my heart was pounding. The tension was extremely well written and directed as we are constantly worried that Budwell's thumb could slip at the slightest of moments. The movie doesn't just use one type of tension--it moves some scenes slow and other scenes are much more fast paced. But I can tell you this; throughout the whole film, I was on the edge of my seat, constantly waiting to see what would happen next. A lot of this is due to the well done pacing. The mix between humor, drama and tension made the film feel more realistic. When the movie went from drama to action based, it felt natural as opposed to being forced onto the audience for the sake of just having an action scene.

Now let's get into why this film isn't phenomenal. First of all, the sheer predictability of the film. From about 10 minutes in, I knew exactly how the movie was going to end. This did take away from the film for me, as there were times that I almost wasn't nervous for the characters as the big "twist" at the end could be seen coming from a mile away.

Julia Roberts was just okay in this movie. She didn't necessarily take away from the film, but she certainly didn't add to the quality of it with her performance. She felt somewhat bland at points and only had a couple of moments where she really came out to shine

The beginning 10 minutes was extremely rushed. An extra few minutes onto the film wouldn't have killed them. Instead, it probably would have helped them. Kyle is on the set within at least 5 minutes of the film and it would have been nice to have a little more introduction to Gates and to see a little more about the crash that happened with the market.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film. It held my attention and had believable pacing, but the predictability did take away a far bit for me.

7/10