Someone Should've Shortened the Movie

Rating: 6/10 (12 December 2015)

The Big Short is directed by Adam McKay and is written by Christian Randolph and Adam McKay. It stars Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, and a slew of other talented actors.
Four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predicted the credit and housing bubble collapse of the mid-2000s decide to take on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed.
The Big Short can best be summarized in 2 words; Wildly Uneven. It is a well written, well directed, and well acted spectacle, yet I didn't care about most of it's real life subjects and was infuriated by its execution and its overly fast pace.
This complex tale of corporate greed at its most nefarious lies squarely on the shoulders of its two writers. What they create is thoroughly entertaining satire, even if they did not fully explore the complexities of its real life story. Accomplished writer- director Adam McKay unleashes one the funniest and most insightful scripts, he has ever put out. With a strong hold on pop culture, fourth wall breaks, and narration as well as a deft mixing of dry and wet humor, The Big Short is one of the most formidable political comedies. There lies the problem. Unable to skillfully shift between a light comedy to a compelling drama, this film features some jarring tonal shifts, which really plucked me out of the movie. This accompanied an over use of jargon and a lot of underdeveloped, unlikable lead characters.
The direction of this movie is just as tangled as its writing. Though intense and passionately filmed, the decidedly speedy pace compromises the merit of both the script and the direction. Rushing through important details, audience members are given no breathing room and no time to process the information launched at then.
The acting in this movie is pristine. The only problem is most of the characters, though well portrayed, come of as top shelf hypocrites, which makes it hard for me to relate to and even harder for me to care about them. With that said however there were three stand out performances that somewhat break this mold.
Steve Carell delivers a nuanced performance as shares manager, Mark Baum. Demonstrating a keen sense of justice, Carell brings Baum to life, even if he does over act at times. Ryan Gosling, my favorite character in the movie, embodies the fact that he's a scum bag and just rolls with it, offering an entertainingly slick performance.
Though Carell and Gosling are very good, I personally feel that Christian Bale stole the show in every scene he was in. The only genuinely relate able character in the lot, Bale conveys one of his more complex characters with a great deal of sensitivity, making it one of his best performances to date.
The Big Short is thoroughly watchable and entertaining, even if it is completely uneven. The Big Short gets a B or a 6/10.