Too big to fail

Rating: 10/10 (17 December 2018)

The Big Short is simply an outstanding film. I wanted to go to the top of a cliff and shout that good intelligent films were still being made. The trouble is it is a long drive for me before I can get to a nice cliff.
I remember talking to my business bank manager in 2004 and telling him that there were people who were buying houses that had risen in value by over 300% in the last few years. These people were getting mortgages to buy these houses and their wages had not gone up by anything like 300%. The multiples for the wages/mortgage ratio did not add up.
The bank manager who worked for his bank for decades since he left college told me not to worry. There would be no housing crash as they had learned the lesson of the early 1990s when the housing market last overheated. He was right, this time it was different, his bank went bust and had to bailed out. He still would not admit to his bank's stupidity or negligence.
What should be a snoozefest about the financial meltdown of 2007/08 due to bad mortgage lending is made exhilarating and informative because the filmmakers use celebrities to coherently explain the financial concepts at the centre of this film.
The star studded cast includes three Oscar winners. Dr Michael Burry (Christian Bale) is a hedge fund manager at Scion Capital. A qualified doctor who likes to drum to loud music, he doesn't like wearing shoes, is socially awkward and he has a glass eye. Burry discovers that the housing mortgage market is riddled with bad loans and bets against it. His action scares his own investors.
Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) is the narrator of this film. He admits he is not altruistic, he did it for the money. He is an investment banker who learned of Burry's bet against the housing market. Vennett also thinks that the subprime mortgage market is vulnerable.
Vennett also wants to bet against the market and persuades Mark Baum (Steve Carell) another socially awkward investor with a strong moral ethic. Baum and his team travel around to see if there is any truth that the subprime mortgage market could fail. They talk to mortgage brokers, people who have taken out loans, people who work in the ratings agencies, dealers that slice and dice the risky bonds full of bad debt. Baum is appalled with what he finds out.
Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley are two small time investors trying to break into the big time who stumble on Vennett's proposals. They too think that Vennett's ideas have substance. However as they are small league they need the help of their neighbour Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) a retired investment bankers for the big banks. Rickert felt the whole financial system was wrong and heading for a fall.
You can view these guys as mavericks, weirdos or even losers. Once they bet against the mortgage market they have a vested interest. They need the banks to fail or else they will lose money.
What they find is that whole system was run by people who had no clue what they were doing, the market was rigged, worse corrupt and they would likely to be bailed out at the end. While the going was good they earned money in commissions and there was plenty of that flowing.
The Big Short was directed and co-written by Adam McKay who is better known comedies. McKay won an Oscar for Best Screenplay. He just about contains his anger as to what happened and the price ordinary people paid after the collapse. He lets his film do the talking and there is no need for him to do a polemic. McKay adds comedy to an already intelligent film.