Review of The Big Short (2015) by Augustine H — 08 Apr 2016

Big on expectation, short on entertainment.

What promises to be an interesting piece of film turns into a production full of extreme jargon and complicated dialogue.

A difficult film to review, Adam McKay's banking drama had the potential to impress a wide audience. Unfortunately this film becomes the product of a niche market.

Filled with detailed banking jargon it is difficult for the average person to work out exactly what is happening throughout each moment of the film. The background narrator does try to play along with this fact by introducing some fun cameos along the way to help explain certain moments within the story.

Unfortunately whilst these cameos do add some much needed entertainment to the drama they do not really answer the question going on throughout every person's head. 'What the hell is going on?'.

Although it is a complexed story this does not take away the fact that there are some strong performances throughout the film. The stand out character has to be Christian Bale's Michael Burry, an eccentric ex-physician turned one-eyed Scion Capital hedge fund manager. By far the most engaging character, he is the man you long to see again and again.

Steve Carell also offers a solid portrayal of Mark Baum, an idealist who is fed up with the corruption in the financial industry. After memorable comedy performances in films such as Anchorman and The 40 Year Old Virgin you tend to forget that Carell has far more to offer with his acting talent.

Unfortunately the other performances in the film do not offer too much and delve away into not much more personality than another banking figurehead.

This film is set out to be a complicated and sophisticated drama and although filled with some potentially meaningful moments it falls just short of expectations for the average film fan.