Review of Money Monster (2016) by Horcrux2007 — 14 May 2016
Last year's The Big Short told the real-life story of the people that profited from the stock market crash in the late 2000's. It was funny, biting and just a little infuriating. Money Monster, on the other hand, goes for a simpler approach with a real-time hostage thriller.
Money Monster stars George Clooney as financial TV host Lee Gates (an obvious riff on Jim Cramer from Mad Money) who is airing his latest edition of his show, you guessed it, Money Monster. Just 24 hours before, IBIS Global Capital's stock inexplicably crashed due to a glitch in a trading algorithm.
A viewer of Gates' show, Kyle Budwell, loses all of his money due to a bad tip from Gates saying that IBIS' stock is "safer than your bank account." Halfway through Gates' show, Kyle gets onto the set and threatens Gates at gunpoint, forcing him to put on a bomb vest.
Kyle wants answers, and if he doesn't get them, he'll blow up Gates before killing himself. Julia Roberts also stars as the show's director who attempts to get everyone out of the bomb threat from behind the scenes.
Money Monster conjures up some great thrills from a reliably game cast, especially Jack O'Connell who plays 99%'er Kyle. There's also quite a bit of dark humor to give the more intense parts some edge while still not detracting from the movie's tone.
It's a simple, timely and contained thriller that should give adults some respite from the myriad of PG-13 fare that is in the theaters so often.
This review of Money Monster (2016) was written by Horcrux2007 on 14 May 2016.
Money Monster has generally received mixed reviews.
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