Chronicles the financial meltdown of 2008 and centers on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.Chronicles the financial meltdown of 2008 and centers on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.Chronicles the financial meltdown of 2008 and centers on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
- Nominated for 11 Primetime Emmys
- 5 wins & 31 nominations total
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Featured reviews
Director Curtis Hanson is true to form in this film as it was adapted from Andrew Ross Sorkin's book of the same name. The performances in the film are spot on especially that of William Hurt as treasury secretary Henry Paulson and veteran Paul Giamatti as fed chair Ben Bernanke. Also it was nice seeing James Woods and Cynthia Nixon("Sex and the City")in small roles, plus a delight was Ed Asner as Warren Buffet. This film proved what we all know the big financial companies and government people are tied in together and corrupt and the average Joe foots the bill for their escape as they clearly are "To Big To Fail"
The film makes a point that Paulson sold all his Goldman stock before becoming Treasury Sec, but fails to point out that he was excused from all taxes on the sale, which saved him upwards of $50 million.
The film also whitewashes Paulson's $150 billion AIG bailout, claiming that AIG owed money to almost everybody in the world. In fact, AIG's largest creditor was, that's right, Goldman Sachs. Paulson failed to negotiate a hard-nosed payout of AIG's obligations, such as offering creditors 50c on the dollar, which the creditors would have had no choice but to accept. This would have saved US taxpayers a cool $75 billion. But it would have hurt Paulson's pals at Goldman.
My point being, Paulson was thoroughly compromised, and managed to feather his own nest and that of his old pals. What next? A stirring depiction of Dick Cheney's altruistic hiring of Halliburton in Iraq? This shortcoming aside, the film clips along nicely, and it's fun to see so many name actors portraying the Wall Street titans. James Woods is a perfect Dick Fuld.
My problem with the film is that it makes it look like the politicians and CEOs involved in the decisions actually cared and got emotional about them. In reality, that is not the case. The decisions which greatly affected the lives of millions of Americans had little, if any, effect on the people who made them--hence the distinguishable apathy in their public appearances. These men and women are among the richest in the world, and they knew they would stay that way regardless of how the crisis played out. They cared about the crisis only to the extent that they needed not be late for their dinner dates.
All animals are equal But some animals are more equal than others.
This movie explained it clearly - and, most shockingly, somebody made a movie about banking regulations that was interesting and engrossing.
Excellent cast at the top of their game - and first rate writing and directing. Check this one out!
(Disclaimer: If you need car chases, boobs-and-butts, terrorist bombings, food fights or sex and drugs to enjoy a film, skip this one! It's not going to be up your alley!)
Did you know
- TriviaTITLE DROP: Mentioned by Hank Paulson character while lecturing his aide ("Here's your too big to fail").
- GoofsLaila Robins (playing the French Minister of Finance Christine Lagarde) begins her scene speaking in a French accent, and ends it with a decidedly British accent.
- Quotes
Michele Davis: I hate to do this right now, but I'm going to have to have a press call first thing, and I don't know what I'm going to tell them.
Neel Kashkari: Tell them Lehman exacerbated AIG. The simultaneous payouts of CDOs and credit default swaps put catastrophic pressure...
Henry Paulson: Go back further.
Neel Kashkari: The global pool of investment capital...
Henry Paulson: She has to do this in English! Start with the homeowners.
Jim Wilkinson: Okay, okay, here's how you explain it.
[clears throat]
Jim Wilkinson: Wall Street started bundling home loans together - mortgage-backed securities - and selling slices of those bundles to investors, and they were making big money. So they started pushing the lenders saying, "come on, we need more loans."
Henry Paulson: The lenders had already given loans to borrowers with good credit, so they go bottom-feeding, they lower their criteria.
Neel Kashkari: Before, you needed a credit score of 620 and a down payment of 20%; now they'll settle for 500, no money down.
Jim Wilkinson: And the buyer, the regular guy on the street assumes that the experts know what they're doing. He's saying to himself, "if the bank's willing to loan me money, I must be able to afford it." So he reaches for the American Dream, he buys that house.
Neel Kashkari: The banks knew securities based on shitbag mortgages were risky...
Henry Paulson: You'll work on "shitbag"...
Neel Kashkari: ...So to control their downside, the banks started buying a kind of insurance. If mortgages default, insurance company pays. Default swap. The banks insure their potential losses to move the risk off their books, so they can invest more, make more money.
Henry Paulson: And while a lot of companies insured their stuff, one was dumb enough to take on an almost unbelievable amount of risk.
Michele Davis: AIG.
Jim Wilkinson: And you'll work on "dumb."
Michele Davis: And when they ask me why they did that?
Jim Wilkinson: Fees!
Neel Kashkari: Hundreds of millions in fees.
Henry Paulson: AIG figures the housing market would just keep going up. But then the unexpected happens.
Jim Wilkinson: Housing prices go down.
Neel Kashkari: The poor bastard who bought his dream house? The teaser rate on his mortgage runs out, his payments go up, he defaults.
Henry Paulson: Mortgage-backed securities tank. AIG has to pay off the swaps. All of them. All over the world. At the same time.
Neel Kashkari: AIG can't pay. AIG goes under. Every bank they insure books massive losses on the same day. And then they all go under. It all comes down.
Michele Davis: [horrified] The *whole* financial system?
[Wilkinson nods]
Michele Davis: And what do I say when they ask me why it wasn't regulated?
Henry Paulson: No one wanted to. We were making too much money.
[Paulson gets up and goes into the washroom]
Jim Wilkinson: You'll work on, "we were making too much money."
- ConnectionsFeatured in Ebert Presents: At the Movies: Episode #1.18 (2011)
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 39m(99 min)
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.78 : 1