Review of Money Monster (2016) by Reviewsbychris — 22 Jul 2016

Money Monster tells the story of Lee Gates (George Clooney); the charismatic host of the financial TV show; Money Monster. After Gates tells his viewers to invest in IBIS Clear Capital, the company experiences a 'glitch' in its logarithm and its stocks plummet; costing shareholders $800 million. But not everyone is satisfied with this explanation. Holding Gates responsible, Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell) sneaks onto the live show's set and holds Gates hostage; armed with a gun and a bomb vest strapped to Lee. He invested his entire life savings in IBIS and he wants an explanation for his loss. All broadcasted to the world on Live TV, Lee and his director Patty (Julia Roberts) must get to the bottom of the financial crisis before the gunman completes the unthinkable. Espionage, danger, and corruption ensues as everyone does their best to deal with this delicate situation before it's too late...

I know some of you will be turned off watching this movie due to the financial jargon, and while it would be beneficial to have knowledge of such jargon before you watch this movie, it isn't compulsory to still gain some enjoyment from this film. It beautifully captures the outrage of a stock market collapse combined with the delicacy and tactics of a hostage situation. However, I feel as though Clooney's natural charisma and lighthearted disposition takes away from this delicate situation a little, appearing somewhat too calm under pressure and therefore lowered the stakes. There's also a reveal about 2 thirds into the movie that decreases tension as well, but from the exterior stays the same. What works best for a movie like this is the tense ambience that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats, and sometimes it went astray from this central ideal. That was where the plot lost me. But when it does have those tense sequences, boy do they do it well... There were also some moments when the plot moved a little slow. This could've been fixed.

The main cast was few but quality; George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Caitriona Balfe, Dominic West, and Giancarlo Esposito were among those involved. Julia Roberts was PERFECTION. By far the stand-out in this one. She had the perfect manner for someone who would have been dealing with a situation like this in a role like hers if it were to happen in 'real life'. Fantastic. The others all performed, I think, to their expected standards. Clooney, to his credit, expanded his repertoire for this role, but you can definitely see the normal Clooney shining through. I appreciate the effort by Director Foster to blend together differing genres of Comedy and Drama/ mystery. But unfortunately, unlike the unusual blend of Comedy and Horror in The Visit, it didn't work in this form. It degraded the dramatic appeal of the film which was stellar at times.

The script, soundtrack, and cinematography were all very good and contributed to that tense and dramatic ambience that audiences feed off of. With some luck there will be some award nominations- it certainly deserves a few. To improve, less focus on trying to maintain a lighthearted ambience within a very serious situation, and try to invent more fresh plot twists to invigorate the drama and keep the plot moving quickly. The movie's underlying purpose I feel was to send a message about financial decisions to the target audiences while blending it into an engaging storyline. This was successful, I walked away from this movie knowing that corruption is everywhere and that I should spend my money wisely.

To finish, I enjoyed this movie a lot. It had some fantastic elements and strengths, but the biggest thing for me as I've already stated that brings down this movie is the attempt to forcefully blend wildly contrasting genres and their moods into this film. Some characters were nonchalant while others were deadly serious. This movie needed to focus all its energy on its strength; dramatic tension.