don't really like the expositions

Rating: 8/10 (12 July 2016)

Michael Burry (Christian Bale) is a glass-eyed socially-awkward hedge fund manager at Scion Capital. He investigates mortgage backed securities and discovers the assumed safe housing market is built on a foundation of bad loans. He bets $1.3 billion against them and talks the banks into creating credit default swaps. Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) from DeutscheBank learns of the bet. Despite his bank being one of those who eagerly took the bet, he agrees with Burry and tries to gather investors. Mark Baum (Steve Carell) is a life long skeptic. After a wrong number phone call, he and his group are recruited by Vennett to bet against the system. Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley discover Vennett's prospectus. They invest their small fund enlisting their neighbor retired banker doomsayer Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt).
Carell and Gosling are hilarious together. It's not a surprise since they've been hilarious before. The story is surprisingly compelling despite its foregone conclusion. All three stories are compelling. The three cameo expositions are the only weak spots. I'm sure others love them. They remind me of the cartoon DNA demonstration in 'Jurassic Park' except that one fits into the premise. These ones exist outside the story, talks down to the audience, and doesn't necessarily explain the ideas any better than other ways. Vennett's Jenga demonstration works fine. The two douche mortgage sellers are great. The stripper is perfect. The movie could explain plenty of stuff without resorting to this gimmick. Again, I'm sure others loved them. I'm not one of them.