The Big Short (2015)

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2016)

The financial crisis of 2008 and the men who pulled the strings behind it is a story too crazy to make up, and that's exactly the premise of The Big Short, a lesson in the Great Recession of the United States and a black comedy about the people that caused it. The Big Short starts in 2005 with hedge fund manager Michael Burry who discovers that the U.S. housing market is extremely unstable. Predicting that the market will collapse sometime in 2007. Burry realizes he can profit from the crash by betting against the housing market. His idea is laughed off by major investment and commercial banks, but they accept his proposal, believing the market is stable. From there, Burry's idea is heard by several hedge fund managers and traders, and their profits increase as the housing market crashes. The documentary-style camera-work and dark comedy make this dense subject easily accessible to almost everyone. The film's funnier moments come when some random anachronistic celebrity comes to explain financial terms to the audience, with the best being Selena Gomez. Even with all the black humor in the movie, The Big Short can't help but make you angry at the real-world villains that it's portraying, which is exactly what the movie wants. The Big Short is both hilarious and angering, and while it's obviously not a documentary, it does offer one of the best on-screen presentations of the 2008 financial crisis that is thought-provoking yet accessible.