Quirky but educational insight into the financial crash

Rating: 8/10 (28 June 2016)

Adam McKay is certainly no stranger to satire with the Anchorman films and Saturday Night Live to his name. Interestingly, he also considers The Other Guys as a satirical work and though I loved that film, I can't say that I saw it that way. This time he tries his hand at satirising the financial crash of 2007-08 in a film based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Michael Lewis. In the most entertaining way, the film depicts the greed and stupidity of banks which led to the suffering of millions of people by preying on their dream of owning their own home.
The film is unique in a number of ways. Firstly, there are no heroes in this. The protagonists in the film are bankers themselves and by betting against the economy, their financial gain leads to many millions suffering. However, the film alludes that they are not just doing this for personal gain but to punish the banks for their hubris and so at least we can cheer them on for that. Its a strange film in that we know exactly how it ends yet it's enthralling nonetheless.
At times it was shot in a mockumentary style- a one-camera setup similarly seen in the The Office- and this technique works as it reminds you that the events that occur on-screen actually happened. The film does not pull many punches when it comes to using financial language and while I struggled at times to keep up with what is meant by a CDO, you can understand the overall arc of the story. Where it struggles to work for me is the Family Guy-esque cut scenes like Margot Robbie in a bathtub explaining complicated financial terms. Particularly as there are so few female characters, scenes like that are especially not funny. The other was the breaking of the fourth wall by characters speaking to camera. The film was thoroughly engrossing but gimmicks like that ruined the moment at times.
Despite this, it is an entertaining and informative take on one of the most stupidest moments in human history.