Review of Money Monster (2016) by Benz P — 28 May 2016

Jodie Foster steps into the director's chair and gives us probably the most forgettable movie of the summer with Money Monster, a film that wants to make a difference but in the end will make you drowsy. While there are some parts of this movie that soften the blow and make this tolerable, all that effort is squandered by the lack of a real script and arguably the biggest miscasting this side of the Russell Crowe as Robin Hood.

I don't like bashing a movie throughout the whole review so with that I will start out with what went right in the film and the main thing here is Jodie Foster's direction. Foster has an eye for building suspense and she put her talent on display here. Each rare scene that has action in it builds suspense and keeps you invested and wondering if or when the bomb will finally go off. She also has a very specific style here that is heavily influenced by David Fincher and gives this film a certain flare.

Also working here is the performances by Jack O' Connell and Julia Roberts. O' Connell perfectly embodies his character and delivers some thought provoking and powerful moments that make us care for him and truly understand him as a character. Roberts doesn't especially shine here, but in the course of the film she delivers where it counts and she provides a sense of relief as well as stress to help the film along.

That is unfortunately all the film got right and the rest of the film is just a huge disappointment. Lets start with the wasted potential of the story. The story here revolves around a stock broker show, that closely resembles Mad Money, where the anchor gets taken hostage by an outraged citizen who recently lost all of his money when a company mysteriously loses 800 million dollars. Interesting premise right? Well it is, and the move does nothing to expand on it. Sure we see the police called in and a the mystery of "where did the money go" gets answered, but it is so paint-by-numbers and dull that you just don't care by the end of it. There are no twists what so ever, just by the small synopsis I guarantee you can figure out by half way through the film what will happen to who and where the money went. Not only that bu the logic in the film is so severely flawed that it is baffling. No, its not because of the big money crisis, but rather the actions by the main character, played by George Clooney, simply make no sense. He, nor anyone, has any tangible arc,with the exception of a few scenes, throughout the film so their actions make no sense.

Not only that, but the casting of George Clooney is a major issue here. Normally Clooney can make gold out of any movie he is in, however here he is handed a script that clearly wasn't for him and the result is one awful performance. He is so out of place in this film he comes off as awkward. Clooney isn't a comedic actor. He is a great actor, but his comedic talents are not his strong suit unless the script is tailored to his abilities and this film just makes this painfully obvious from the opening scene. If he was a supporting character this would be fine, but he isn't and as a result this movie has a lead that is just a pain to watch. Yes, the script gave him no room to work with, but his shortcomings.

The rest of the cast is also wasted as we have all of these great actors like Giancarlo Esposito, Dominic West, and Chris Bauer but yet the script does nothing with them and they all are wasted for it. Esposito in particularly is squandered due to his illustrious career as a villain but in this he settles for the stereotype of a ploice captain. West and Bauer all follow suit and just play these walking stereotypes with no real substance. If the film was a run of the mill comedy then maybe that would work, but this is a film that is trying to tackle social relevance but does nothing to try and fix it. If the script gave the actors more wiggle room for their performances, we could see more of how the events effect the people around it, but yet it doesn't and the result is just another wasted cast and film.

Overall Money Monster tries to be like last years The Big Short but ends up being a throw away political thriller. Jodie Foster shows her talent as well as Jack O' Connell, but everything else is just boring and cliche ridden. Nothing in this film is original and despite it boasting themes about money laundering and the state of the world financially, it does nothing with it and settles for being less than mediocre. I can't honestly recommend this film. If you do decide to see the film then wait until it is on Netflix, it, in the heaviest dose of irony in a film recently, really isn't worth your money.