Dumb Money

The early part of this film, perhaps the first 15 minutes or so, constitutes some of the most painful moments of my entire movie-viewing life. The filmmakers repeatedly chose to blast the film with absolutely obnoxious, offensive, crude and un-listenable rap music that plays too long and WAY too loud. If I hadn't just spent $5.99 to rent the movie, I absolutely would have turned it off. I'm glad I didn't turn it off, though, because once we got past the rap-fest, it settled into a pretty good movie. Paul Dano is excellent as the earnest, well-meaning day trader who sparks a worldwide rift in the stock market. It's a classic case of the little guy who stands up to the powers at the top. There's still some rap that I could live without throughout the movie, but those first few minutes appear to betray some sort of mental breakdown on the part of the director, music supervisor, and editor. Watch with caution.

The film Dumb Money was reasonably decent timepass, although it leans heavily on a particular montage style and patronising approach to tiktok dances. There are some pretty decent performances, particularly Paul Dano, but the film is really dumbed down and treats the audience with kid gloves. I had half expected the film to veer into a legal thriller, but the length was a disappointment and whatever substance the film had was heavily watered down. Given the subject matter I thought a 2 hour runtime would have been an improvement, but instead the film is too short and the story is delivered via montages and doja cat songs.

I guess the filmmakers admired The Big Short, and sought to emulate that film, but in the end they lacked the courage that The Big Short had, to not treat the audience like they were the Dumb Money.

I went into this not knowing a massive amount about the GameStop stuff.

I think the film does well in showing the story but only from a high level. It doesn't go into too much detail of certain decisions or certain character arcs but I think it's good enough. However, I do think this film came out too soon considering the events only happened in 2020/21. Feel like if it came out a few years later it would have been better.

Saying all that, I think it was well acted, had a few funny moments and music choice was good.

It's not Oscar worthy by any means but it's still an enjoyable watch especially if you don't know much about the true story.

Even with its admirable intentions, in its writing, Dumb Money is, well, dumb. It's incessantly preachy and shallow, clinically moving from plot point to plot point while never examining any of its characters or happenings beneath the surface level.

Granted, it doesn't necessarily need to. But it also doesn't present its scant narrative with enough style to make it compulsively watchable.

Still, I found it impossible to dislike this movie. It tells the populist story that united everyone-right, left, and center-for a brief moment of euphoric social harmony. How can I not get wrapped up in reliving all that?

Most of the cast brings charisma to their characters that was not on the page, and they are what is compelling about this film. That, and, even though the script has a dearth of insight, it's funny. It had loads of fast-paced dry wit that make it tough to not smile throughout.

The performers and the humour really saved this movie, and though I don't think it'll have the impact the filmmakers were hoping for, it's a solidly good time. Just don't take it too seriously.

Here's a movie I liked quite a bit. I think more people should have seen it. Going by the Wikipedia entry for its box office return, it didn't do all that well financially, which is ironic.

Perhaps that's because like me, audiences felt they might not be able to understand the ins and outs of its story, which involves the world of stock trading, something out of reach for the average person. But again, that's ironic, because the whole point of the story, the lesson learned by the history portrayed here, is that that world isn't as out of reach as we think.

I believe the movie does a very good job of making this stuff understandable to people like me, so I wish more people would take a chance on it.

The heart of the movie is really Paul Dano's performance. I have long thought he is one of the best actors in the world. Here, he embodies the guy at the centre of the GameStop short squeeze seemingly effortlessly.

I was also very impressed by Seth Rogen playing a role I totally did not expect to see him in. He's a Hollywood good guy, but portrays one of the rich guys at war with "dumb money", ie. People trying to pick up a little extra money with stocks, while getting sneered at by those with so much money they can game the system.

Or so they thought.

The movie is possibly a little less successful with its various portrayals of people on either side of the squeeze. It's possible it has too many characters, I'm not sure. At first I wasn't sure who everybody was, and if they were supposed to be good guys or bad guys (because the movie definitely has those).

You know what? I think I'm going to watch it again, now that I know who everybody is. That's actually pretty high praise. These days I often quit on movies before they're over, but not this one.