"Housing Schemes For Dummies"; Blue chip cast makes merry - One of the year's best films.

Rating: Null/10 (13 December 2015)

THE BIG SHORT (2015) **** Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Finn Wittrock, John Magaro, Rafe Spall, Hamish Linklater, Jeremy Strong, Melissa Leo, Max Greenfield, Tracy Letts. Gonzo dramedy about the housing market fallout fiasco that nearly crippled the global (and US) economy based on the best-seller by Michael Lewis, comedy filmmaker Adam McKay (who co-wrote the sharply funny and blackly satirical screenplay adaptation with Charles Randolph) makes like "Housing Schemes For Dummies" approach with a blue chip cast of oddballs and angry men - Bale is at his best (and needs to do more comedies) as a nearly idiot savant insider who sees the bubble about to burst and decides to beat the boys at their own game and cashing in ; all for broke also are anger management hedge fund runner Carell and his cronies as well as sleek Gosling the perpetrator to the easy out with slick cunning and gusto. Pitt makes a gravitas worthy slow-burn as a retired trader whose burnt out wisdom mentors a pair of buds (Wittrock and Magaro) attempting to make fast money ("Don't dance!" is his credo to the outlandishly epic outcome). One of the year's best films.