This was the most depressed I have ever been after seeing a comedy. I came out of the theater actually despairing over the fate of the world. Mother of God, what have we done to ourselves? To our planet?In 2008, the United States housing market collapsed, sparking a global recession. In 2006, a handful of people only saw the writing on the wall and instituted measures to essentially profit off of the death of the American economy. And they are the good guys. Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) was the first to come up with the idea to short mortgage bonds and was roundly laughed at for doing something -- at the time -- so unheard of. Mark Baum (Steve Carrell) and his team answered a wrong number and got wind of the idea from a trader named Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling). Two amateurs with a hedge fund saw Vennett's market proposal and talked a former market-savvy analyst turned paranoid anti-establishment nutcase (Brad Pitt) into using his clout to get them a seat at the table.
This is a comedy. It reminded me very much of a documentary called Inside Job but this used big actors to dramatize the actual events. It also used guests such as Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez to explain the more complicated financial terms. Those parts were hilarious. I wasn't in love with the editing, which seemed overly processed to feel like a documentary. I didn't think that was necessary when coupled with the narration from Gosling's character.
This would have been a very funny movie if it wasn't about an actual event. If this were purely fictional, I would have been fine. But this happened.
People lost their homes.
People lost their jobs.
People around the world suffered.
And that just sucks all the humor right out for me.
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