A Beautiful Depiction of a Horrendous Disaster

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2016)

Adam McKay's drama directorial debut and it is one not to be forgotten. It is amazing how source material as mundane as bank fraud, defaulting loans, and other boring financial elements can be transformed into something that is gripping, comedic, and morally horrifying all at the same time. My hat is off to you Mr. McKay. How in the world did the same guy that directed every Will Ferrell film from Talladega Nights to Anchorman 2 bring us this riveting and palpable (that word was used in the film) historical film?
The housing market crash occurred when I was in 8th grade and I did not fully understand the severity of what was happening around me at the time. All I caught onto was the economy was in shambles and people could no longer pay for their mortgages. The Big Short shined a whole new light on the economy crash of '07 for me and opened my eyes to the evil that was behind it all. The whole idea of how something like that had never happened before, how it was fueled by fraud and greed, and how it affected the entire world economy was almost too much to handle for me while I was viewing it. The movie tore me into two pieces: 1) I am laughing at the wit and bluntness of the actors interactions with one another (Steve Carell was impeccable) 2) I am disgusted by the greed of people. I was utterly astounded at how a movie was able to evoke such different feelings out of me.
The Big Short's style was one that I compare to The Wolf of Wall Street and The Office (and yes, I do mean the t.v. show starring Steve Carell). Between the blatant continuity errors, voice over narration, forth wall breaks, and depiction of real life crime I felt like I was in a Scorsese film. However, with the shaky camera, business setting, and "documentary" vibe I felt like it was The Office. The overall style of the movie was something that I found very creative and entertaining. With the quick edits and cuts, sound mixing, and chaotic camera work it created a sense of urgency and stress which I assume was their aim so the viewers could experience what life on wall street and in the big corporate world is like.
Many of the performances were stellar and absolutely made the movie. Steve Carell's portrayal of the morally conflicted and brash banker was the best performance of the film and I am surprised he did not get an Oscar nomination; I liked him better than Bale. Even in the midst of all the numbers and talk of money the film managed to give the characters depth and background and not just use them as ventriloquist dummies to convey information to the viewers. Christian Bale's performance of the socially awkward genius was pretty good too. Given it is based on true events and people made it a little awkward to watch Bale's character because the majority of his performance is just him: he has minimal interaction with other actors and absolutely no interaction with any of the other leading cast. Not to say that his performance was not terrific, it was just awkward to watch at times.
Given as amazing as I think this film is, it did have some short-comings like all things. Primarily it dealt with convoluted source material. Trying to put something as complex as banking and financial agreements into understandable dialogue is near impossible and as good of a job as this film did at that, it still, for me, was not enough for me to understand what was happening all the time. So much information was presented to the audience that sometimes it made my head spin; but it was a necessity for the film to progress with any sense. The film makers know this so they tried to do comical and creative ways to teach the audience about such topics ( I wont go in depth so I don't ruin the surprise) and did a decent job at it too. All in all it was a terrific film that I will watch more in the future and recommend to anyone with half a brain and an interest in recent American history.