Thought-provoking and flawed

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2016)

Whilst I definitely enjoyed aspect of this film, it did not quite meet the standards I'd hoped. I confess that was a fan of the book and Michael Lewis as an author - and for the most part, The Big Short is a faithful and entertaining adaptation of Lewis' expose on the scandal that was Subprime mortgage loans.
Firstly, I think the film's attempt to explain the crisis in layman's terms was admirable and engaging in some parts - tacky and unimaginative in others. I think invoking the "jenga tower" when explaining the mortgage backed securities or CDO's was a simple and effective analogy for the audience assumed to have no understanding of bank trading or bonds. Even the explanation of the "hot hand fallacy" - propensity to attribute likelihood of future events based on the current using the setting of a blackjack table was interesting. I have to give the film credit in its presentation and various techniques it employed to illuminate a complex subject matter.
However, I must agree with a minority of reviewers in saying I felt some uneasiness about the film's persistent push for comedic affect. I didn't have a problem with the narration or breaking the 4th wall and engaging the audience directly, as no doubt the director felt they might be become disengaged if not. But I found Ryan Gosling's character odious - which is to say he plays the exact same character he did in that horrendous rom-com a few years back with Steve Carell (who I will come to shortly) - a brash, contemptuous know-it-all. I also didn't love the Margot Robbie cameo (or Selena Gomez for that matter). We're talking about the worst global financial crisis since the 1930's and you've got some multi-million dollar pop star very condescendingly explaining the nature of mortgage backed securities from her jacuzzi on a beach-side mansion before telling the audience to "fuck off". Was this just a cynical attempt to appeal the fans of that reprehensible Wolf of Wall Street?
Then quickly Steve Carell, once again I realise I'm in the minority but I can't warm to him at all. With him and Gosling cast as two of the primary characters I knew I would struggle to love this film. However, Christian Bale was a stand-out and his scenes were often much more humorous and poignant than Gosling/Carell's without going for broke. Brad Pitt was scarce in this.
Overall, I did enjoy The Big Short and would recommend to to all. It was well edited, paced and relatively faithful to the Lewis' narrative. However, it debased itself somewhat by appealing to the very pop- obsessed consumer culture it was trying to denounce. Perhaps the intention here was denounce this section of viewers.
The film does (importantly) recognise and place in to some context the actions of the protagonists in betting against the housing market i.e their huge gain would be contrasted with global economic pain. The Big Short isn't judgmental of the characters - more so tempering any adulation a younger audience perhaps might feel towards them. I also enjoyed how McKay addressed the issue of what it is to devote one's life to the creation (or usurpation) of private wealth. What is capitalism? The ability to capitalise on an opportunity and externalise all else. That apt Twain quote at the beginning "Its what we know that just ain't so" - and we continue to "know" that capitalism and free markets in the best economic system despite all its exploitation and continually more adverse side-effects.
An important and watchable film, but not quite the masterpiece it could have been.