Margin Call: movie review
'Margin Call' is entertaining with a good cast, but somewhat formulaic.
Kevin Spacey struggles through the Wall Street crisis in 'Margin Call.'
WASHINGTON SQUARE FILMS/Album/Newscom
Writer-director J. C. Chandor鈥檚 鈥�Margin Call鈥� is about a rapidly unfolding crisis at an investment bank on the eve of the 2008 economic collapse. I鈥檓 not sure we need yet another movie about nefarious Wall Street shenanigans 鈥� especially not when the 鈥�Occupy Wall Street鈥� movements have stolen the spotlight.
On the other hand, the genre has not yet yielded anything wonderful: 鈥�Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps鈥� and The Company Men鈥� weren鈥檛 exactly masterpieces.
I was hoping 鈥淢argin Call鈥� would at least be best of breed, and I suppose, given what else is out there, it is (unless you count Charles Ferguson鈥檚 Oscar-winning documentary 鈥�Inside Job鈥�). But it鈥檚 a rather formulaic piece of work. A lot of good actors, including Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Zachary Quinto, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, and Penn Badgley, strut and fret their hour upon the stage while delivering acrimonious arias. It鈥檚 all fairly entertaining but also confusing for anybody who doesn鈥檛 get the Wall Street lingo. Irons, as the company鈥檚 chief executive officer, seems to sympathize with us: He keeps asking his minions to explain the impending problems in plain English. This is quite helpful, especially if you鈥檝e never heard of a 鈥渉istorical volatility index limit鈥� and wouldn鈥檛 know what it was even if you had. Grade: B (Rated R for language.)