'The Big Short' is entertaining but has a kid-glove attitude toward amorality
鈥淭he聽Big聽Short鈥� is fast-paced and entertaining, and, given that it鈥檚 about聽the home loan mortgage crisis that led to the 2008 financial collapse, I聽found it surprisingly easy to follow.聽
But as much as I enjoyed parts of this聽film, I was bothered, as I was to a much greater extent in 鈥淭he Wolf of聽Wall Street," by the high-style amorality on display 鈥� or, to be more聽precise, by the film鈥檚 kid-glove attitude toward that amorality.
Directed and co-written by Adam McKay and based on聽Michael Lewis's nonfiction bestseller, 鈥淭he聽Big聽Short鈥� is about a band of disparate聽investors who, anticipating the housing bubble and ready to stick it to the聽big聽banks, profit from the crash. They are played by, among others, Steve聽Carell, Ryan Gosling, and 海角大神 Bale, the mastermind of the scheme,聽who seems more like a stoned surfer dude than a fat cat, and who has one glass聽eye (the warmer one?). Brad Pitt also turns up as a refugee from the Wall聽Street wars who has decamped with his millions to Colorado. For some聽reason I can鈥檛 fathom, all of these actors are wearing unsightly hairpieces.聽
Anticipating the audience鈥檚 confusions about investment lingo, McKay聽periodically features celebrities such as Selena Gomez purringly decodingthe arcana for us and speaking directly into the camera. It鈥檚 a cute ploy聽that wears thin fast.聽
The actors play their roles to the hilt, but in the end, the role of these聽investors in extenuating the crisis they took advantage of is played down,聽as is the disastrous life consequences of all those who were severely hit by聽it. This wouldn鈥檛 be the first time that a movie aimed at championing聽鈥済ood鈥� guys ended up more temperamentally in tune with the bad guys. Grade: B (Rated R for pervasive language and some sexuality/nudity.)
