The Big Short

If you think the investment world is ruled by greedy crooks and glorified con artists, then The Big Short won’t do much to change your mind.

However, those surface observations are only part of the story in this true-life comedy adapted from a book by Michael Lewis (Moneyball), about a handful of Wall Street types who forecast the bursting of the real-estate bubble in 2007 that led to a widespread economic downturn.

Taut yet uneven, it’s a sophisticated indictment of government ignorance and corporate greed that challenges whether we can all look back on the subsequent financial crisis and laugh.

Primarily, it follows three storylines, each surrounding the public’s oblivion toward the dangers of market volatility, subprime mortgages and adjustable-rate home loans. An eccentric hedge-fund manager (Christian Bale) has investors who think his predictions of impending doom are foolish. A young investor (Ryan Gosling) finds an ally in a boorish trader (Steve Carell) willing to take a chance. And a retired banker (Brad Pitt) agrees to help two upstarts looking to break into the world of high finance using the same theory.

The film tries to make complicated financial concepts more accessible, with a tendency to oversimplify matters (especially in its goofy narration). It certainly has a handle on industry culture and terminology, and on the major players behind the collapse, as reflected both in the strong performances and the sharply written screenplay by Charles Randolph and director Adam McKay (Step Brothers).

The main characters are intriguing if not endearing, as they’re portrayed as scrappy outsiders whose hunches allowed them to challenge the system for big bucks. But does that make them somehow more scrupulous or heroic, or merely Gordon Gekko wannabes? Even if it’s prone to exaggeration, the film captures the high-stakes, knee-jerk cycle of risk, panic, desperation and elation among those who play the game, both for wealth and for the adrenaline rush.

The Big Short reinforces cynical notions that everybody in the financial sector is fraudulent, from big banks to rating agencies to small-time traders, preying on the working class and exploiting the system. Or maybe there’s a certain capitalist ingenuity to their methods.

At any rate, even seven years later, the result will elicit plenty of fury beneath the laughter. Whether you find it a comedy or a horror story might depend not on your cinematic taste, but your home ownership status.

Rated R, 130 minutes.