Toxic debt makes a fun movie!

Rating: 8/10 (29 January 2016)

The collapse of the US housing market (and Lehmans) in 2008, which precipitated the global financial crisis, doesn't sound like a recipe for fun and entertainment, does it? Neither did Zuckerman and Steve Jobs, but once again the secret is in the script and the acting. The writers have created a pacey run of short scenes with humour as well as tension, charting the escalating stupidity of the banks and finance companies who gave mortgages to people with zero credit rating and then wrapped these 'toxic' debts into packages for selling on to investors around the globe (including pension funds, city councils and national banks). One scene shows us a stripper with double mortgages on five properties: how could she not fail?
My usual cavil: the f-words come at you like a hail of bullets. But all the actors - not just the four leads - give finely overwrought performances as the crisis builds to a peak and then unravels. A nice touch is to have cast members occasionally turn to address the camera in the new 'tradition' of HOUSE OF CARDS, making this a kind of satirical docudrama. But THE BIG SHORT is based on real people and painfully real events. Millions of people lost homes, jobs and even their lives when the mighty boom turned to an almighty bust.