Game of Bubbles

Rating: 7/10 (20 April 2016)

'The Big Short' seems to want to play off the same vibe as 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' with characters directly addressing the audience and even explaining which scenes are dramatized and which really happened. There is even a series of celebrity appearances inserted solely for the purpose of explaining the core financial concepts to laymen. Although trying to explain the housing market bubble of 2007/2008 using blackjack bet, Jenga tower and seafood cuisine analogies is only marginally successful, the fact that nearly every single scene in this movie involves the various characters discussing, debating, delving into or otherwise taking action related to this bubble basically gets the picture across to the audience. But that, and the fact that it's a long movie and about 95% of it is these same characters waiting for said bubble to burst, also makes it a rather one-dimensional movie, and a bit on the dull side at times. Still, it's worth it for the interesting subject matter and a particularly entertaining performance by Steve Carrell.