From the director of "Anchorman" comes a mockumentary "Wall Street"

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2016)

Having browsed the Michael Lewis source material, it is a compelling examination of the 2008 financial crisis, starting from its roots on the housing and credit bubble to its fruits on the Wall Street. Strings of business jargon and crass pop culture from the book makes this as a fitting material for "Anchorman" director Adam McKay to take the helm.
The movie glances on three interconnected stories of New York-based firm personalities who engaged on earning big from a marketing bubble on the credit and housing sectors. Each story has its own quirks and stakes to an impending crisis. The source of its growth comes from hedge fund manager Michael Burry (a sardonic Christian Bale, redoing a calm but crazy Patrick Bateman), who predicted the collapse from loan numbers he received and devised a way to profit from it by betting on the big corporations. His plan was realized when Deutsche Bank investor Jared Vennett (a snarky Ryan Gosling) decided to get involved in the credit swap, dragging along trader Mark Baum (an outstanding Steve Carell) and his firm. Burry's predictions also catch the eyes of junior investors Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock), who set a credit default swap deal with several officials, with the assistance of veteran banker Ben Rickert (a low-key Brad Pitt). All stories intertwine to what becomes the horror story for the world economy but an accomplished mission for those people who profit from it.
The main topic that surrounds "The Big Short" is a complex issue that truly requires an unorthodox method to boost interest. Adam McKay's approach goes for the mockumentary style, complete with hand-held camera-work, supportive montages and jumps from scene to scene. Also adding to McKay's oddities is the splurging editing (thanks to deserving Hank Corwin), which spans from the surrounding pop culture of the period, and the sudden fourth-wall breaks. It seems in favor of the source material that McKay and Charles Randolph narrow down to directly tell the complex tale of the 2007-2010 financial crisis. It also helps that the cast ensemble are at their full game through the proceedings; Carell's Baum being the most sympathetic and Bale's Burry as the golden goose. This makes them one of the most compelling casts in a comedy- drama. And a must for "The Big Short" because this is a crucial piece of informative cinema, from the outrageous mind of Adam McKay.