The acting is brilliant, the dialog is snappy, and the characters are rich but the story is far too intricate for a film.

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2016)

The Big Short is comedic director's Adam McKay's attempt at drama and it is somewhat bittersweet to see. On one hand, the performances that McKay is able to obtain from his actors is that of an optimum level however, despite the performances and how excellent they all are, the story is far too involved and convoluted to fit a feature length narrative. This would have been a much better television mini-series, and may benefit from a less surreal approach to the source material. The film starts by showing us Ryan Gosling donning an expensive black suit along with equally black hair and dark brown eyes, a strikingly different look than the blue eyed heartthrob we're all used to seeing. He introduces himself as Jared Vennett, an eccentric businessman that discovers from a long line of real estate geniuses and brokers (Steve Carrell, Brad Pitt and Christian Bale, among others) that the infrastructure of the entire US economy is bound to collapse. And unfortunately, any American knows what came after that. A total economic disaster of epic proportions that crippled a nation and forced mortgage foreclosure signs on the front lawns of millions of homes and countless ruined lives. The film handles this subject matter quite gracefully but moves way too briskly through the material for anyone to get an understanding of how it all works but, then again, there are college courses on this exact type of economy and there are many that still don't have an understanding of it all and they work in the field. The issues that The Big Short suffer from is a less interesting script that sacrifices what could be some really riveting documentary work for some mock-Wolf of Wall Street moments and Gosling waiting for his Jordan Belfort or Gordon Gekko moment, one that never comes close to even arising. Steve Carrell and Christian Bale give exceptionally strong performances in the film. Carrell plays a broker who struggles with the loss of someone close to him while discovering the financial fallout of America while Bale plays Micharl Burry, the man who discovered the fatal flaw in America's system. Overall, Thr Big Short tries to pack in too much information into a feature film narrative and is weighed down by some truly slow moving and confusing back and forths that essentially amount to the characters playfully hurling insults at one another. While these scenes are well acted and very engrossing, it leaves much to be wanted. The actors are excellent and Adam McKay has done a wonderful job at directing them to some career best performances. McKay's mistake lies in a jammed pack script that is in dire need of some breathing room.