profoundly serious and funny at the same time

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2016)

The first portion was a little bit confusing and awkward for me. After all I'm quite new to the details of many business terms. The good thing was that I learned a lot, and now I have a good idea on how did the American economy fall in 2008. Then, there was this quite complex film editing style, which I came to appreciate much later in the second portion of the movie, when the characters have become more developed. The pacing is actually quite fast in the first part, wherein they introduced one character, develop it a little, introduce another one, develop it, and then go back to the previously introduced character, develop it further, and so on. It didn't work quite well for me at first, wherein there were some jokes that doesn't seem to have a good timing, e.g. they turn out to be tepid and dry, but then when they do hit the timing, they can give you some really good laugh.
What was consistent however was the strong performances of the cast. These became more compelling in the second portion of the movie since they were augmented by more developed characters and better pacing and editing style. We get to see more scenes that give room for contemplation as well, and we get to see some outrageous sides of the unique characters who have foreseen the disastrous results of the business craziness that was going on. Now, you get to feel really sad about the consequences of the fraudulent actions of the people in Wall Street, but then you really get to laugh as well with the unexpected twists in the situation and conversation such as the sudden appearance of Selena Gomez. For me, the unique mix of order and chaos in this film is an extraordinary feat for the film's director, Adam McKay.
The subject matter is both relevant and important, given the current situation in the U.S., and despite being a little bit self-righteous for me, I think the movie was able to handle it very well. As a person not so familiar with a lot of business terms, I have become more familiar with mortgage bonds, and was able to use "CDO" and "synthetic CDO" in a sentence. At least, as an ordinary person, I might not be easily intimidated by these words anymore. Perhaps a second viewing will do the trick of appreciating the first portion more, but then all throughout you can say that its strongest side was the writing, and I think it is one of the best written movies of the year.