By Caprice Foster

It is rare that a movie about one of American history’s biggest economic failures can be depicted in an entertaining, comical, and smart way. Based on the book, “The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine” by Michael Lewis, The Big Short achieves this goal magnificently! Directed by Adam McKay, who is best known for directing comedies such as Anchorman and Step Brothers, The Big Short does a superb job of taking a look at several real-life bankers and investors who predicted the housing and credit bubble that led to the financial crisis and housing market crash that began in 2007. The movie has an all-star cast that includes Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.

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The film shows how several bankers saw in advance that the financial crisis would take place, but rather than use this information to help prevent it from happen, they chose to bet against the bubble in hopes of profiting from the crisis in the end. As much as you might despise these people, you find yourself rooting for them while watching the film, as it displays the mental and emotional turmoil that they carry while awaiting the economic disaster that is eminent. McKay does an outstanding job of showing various montages throughout the film of popular culture to show what we, the world, were paying attention to instead of the financial crisis that was approaching. Images and clips of popular mid-2000s iPhone commercials, rap videos, and fast food commercials blare on the screen at different transitions during the movie, which can’t help but remind you of the happier times before our economic recession took place.

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In case you are intimidated by the financial system and its confusing lingo, The Big Short also helps viewers to understand terminology and what is happening in the movie. This is done fantastically by using celebrities like Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez among others to give laymen terms and use basic non-economic examples to describe and explain the terminology.

The film is very entertaining and has plenty of humorous moments, but as you watch The Big Short, you can’t help but feel a sense of dread and sadness knowing now what we didn’t know then, about how truly devastating the housing market crash was which led to houses in foreclosure, and massive unemployment. Nonetheless, The Big Short is worth the ticket. Go see it!

The Big Short is Rated R and opens in theaters today!

 

http://www.thebigshortmovie.com/