by Joseph Carlson
The Big Short came out in 2015 and was directed by Adam McKay and starring Steve Carel, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling. It won an academy award for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was written by Adam McKay and Charles Randolph. It was based on the book The Big Short by Michael Lewis.
So a lot can be said about this movie. Yes, it's about the housing bubble burst that happened in 2008. No one knew what was going to happen. No one in the government and no one in the regulatory systems.
They did though and that's the thing that makes this sting the most. This movie is entertaining and really well done. It shows a little known part of the burst, that fact that Michael Burry(Christian Bale's character) figures out that everything is going to go to hell. He starts going short, basically waiting for the housing market to fall apart, and buying shares in failure.
Jarred Vennett(Ryan Gosling's character) hears about what going on with Burry and researches everything and then is on the same track with him. Mark Baum(Steve Carel) is brought in by Vennett and then with his small team also researches the situation and falls in line with everybody else about what happened.
The great thing about the movie is it breaks the fourth wall and the actors talk to the camera they also use celebrities to give exposition. It helps ease the pain of all the jargon you would hear in the news and from the people in Wall Street.
All of this is put together by Adam McKay beautifully. You really feel the weight of what's happening when all of the characters come together in Las Vegas at a security and bond conference and they all realize how dumb everyone is there. The fact that these people are suppose to watch over the banking system and the fact that these people don't care.
It's unsettling and the funny part is that the more and more we read or hear about the housing bubble the more heartbreaking it is. Do we have anybody that cares. The end of the movie gives us an epilogue that tells us that the banks are kind of starting to do this again. Heartbreaking. I don't know how to say this but I love this movie but it is heartbreaking and maybe that was the point all along.
The Big Short is now on Netflix.