overly simplistic black comedy fun!

Rating: 7/10 (1 August 2016)

My mother is a loan officer and last night we were flipping through Netflix for a movie to watch. I was happy to see this film there (Netflix takes forever with some films) and was glad to see it with my mom because for once, if i didn't understand a film, she could explain it to me instead of vice versa. Thankfully it was a simple enough narrative i didn't need to ask too many questions. She felt the film was mostly accurate but a bit one sided. too much emphasis is put on the 'big bad banks' and not enough on the irresponsibility of the average joe in that time. two scenes in particular explain this: (SPOILERS) the scene with the stripper where she explains she has about eight houses, all bought with loans, and the scene in Florida where they to go to collect from that guy, only to find out it's his landlord in trouble who has fled. those are probably two of the biggest reasons we got in such deep crap. People buying things with the money they do not have. It is not the greed of banks, it is the greed and manipulation of the system BY THE PEOPLE. My mother is Mexican, and speaks fluent Spanish, so she would get all the 'problematic loans'. what does that mean? she'd get the loans from immigrant people who claimed to have no money. Only, once she started to investigate, she'd find they were paid in cash, under the table, sent that money home, claimed they were poor and qualified for everything social under the son. even the wife of OUR GARDENER said she was single so her kids would qualify for wellbabies and whatever else insurance and perks her kids got at school. so while I applaud the filmmakers for taking such a serious subject and turning it into something more people wanna watch (because this film SHOULD be watched) I wish they hadn't taken such a left approach and been more neutral. a lot to ask from Hollywood, i guess. other than that, fun fantastic cast that gave the film a great energy, the element of breaking the 4th wall always brings in the laughs among the other black comedy in the film. a generally enjoyable film, even if i eventually felt it ran too long.