Absurd, Crazy and Frigthening!

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2016)

(Review of The Big Short, seen 23.01.2016 in Pathé, Arnhem (NL))
Who would have thought that Adam McKay, the crazy mind that has given us Anchorman and Step Brothers, would end up being an Oscar-nominated screenwriter and director celebrated for his work on a relevant and essential film about one of the worst financial crises? I certainly had not seen this coming even though I am a big fan of the Anchorman series. Nonetheless, that is the case and let me start off by stating that all nominations and awards McKay and his team will win will be thoroughly deserved!
The collapse of the American housing and the subsequent worldwide financial crisis doesn't really seem like the obvious topic for a crazy comedy. McKay doesn't care one single second! The Big Short is absurd with the absurdity and uncontrolled flair for storytelling that we have come to know from the Anchorman films and that setting is a surprisingly good fit for the otherwise very serious (and rather boring) topic. In McKay's hands the financial crisis has never been funnier, better explained or more frightening. Humour is a great tool to process matters beyond our limit of understanding and McKay proofs to be fully aware of this in one of the best films I have seen in years.
Having praised McKay for his writing and directing, the entire cast is equally as good. Steve Carell is in my eyes the main character here and he builds upon his performance in Foxcatcher last year and Little Miss Sunshine earlier to show that he is indeed so much than his iconic Anchorman character Brick! Carell succeeds in portraying a man whose personal issues are both affected by and affecting his actions in the increasingly bizarre reality of what's happening in Wall Street. His few scenes with Marisa Tomei are brilliant and are examples of the film's powerful dramatic assets.
Christian Bale, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role, is balancing the fine line described in Tropic Thunder as going "fully retarded". While I think Carell's performance is more deserving of nod, Bale's performance is probably a better fit for the supporting role category and his nod is well deserved too. A modern version of Rain Man he is the man who foresees the disaster years in advance but constantly fail to make his ideas acknowledged. Bale perfectly captures the character's descent into an increasing anger that makes his glass eye more active, his drumming more hectic and the volume level on his speakers sky high. Where Carell's Mark Baum represents our nervous discomfort regarding the turn of events, Bale's Dr. Michael Burry is our anger towards the constant ignorance towards the few people who sees what is happening.
Ryan Gosling is the most comedic asset as the Wolf of Wall Street like Deutsche Bank salesman functioning as the narrator of the story as well constantly breaking the fourth wall (along with a lot of the other actors as well btw). The last man on the poster is Brad Pitt, but his main contribution is as a producer as his role barely have any screen time.
The story is difficult to understand in the sense that the events are so ridiculous and inconceivable, so it is only natural that the storytelling shares this level of craziness. McKay utilises a wide range of cinematic tools; apart from breaking the fourth wall on several occasions these include an extremely diverse soundtrack (from hip hop to Phantom of the Opera), rapidly edited montages of photos and clips from popular culture and three amazing explanation scenes, which I am not going to spoil here. It's such a clever choice by McKay though as the explanations are very clear and simultaneously function as sarcastic comments on the world of today.
Whether or not The Big Short can follow up on its recent PGA Award for Best Motion Picture only time will tell, but for now it remains my favourite for now (having only watched that and The Martian of this year's big films to be fair).