Review of Money Monster (2016) by Mayank A — 22 Sep 2016

Despite a dynamic performance from Jack O'Connell, there is a decided lack of energy to Jodie Foster's Money Monster. While I applauded the attempt to try and make the current financial climate and the most recent Wall Street crash to the working class that might not have the education to have fully understood exactly what happened, it's hard to shake the feeling that Foster is talking down to her audience.

The situation on screen is loud and crude as O'Connell's Kyle Budwell takes the overly coiffed Lee Gates, embodied by George Clooney, hostage. Under educated does not equal stupid, and Foster frequently falls into this trap.

In the end, Money Monster uses Budwell to help the entitled, rich, white guy realize that he's been a bad person. While the film pretends to be on the side of the little person, Clooney's Gates is at its centre, endlessly charming in spite of his overwhelming ego.

This never really disappears, overwhelming the good work done by O'Connell and surprisingly Julia Roberts who's TV producer is tough as nails and determined to get everyone out alive. If Foster hadn't put Clooney front and centre, there might have been something there.

Instead Money Monster is a flat film that pats itself on the back, congratulating itself on a job well done in teaching another privileged man that not everyone is so lucky. Not that he's going to do much good with that revelation.