Dumb Money

Chronicling a real-life revenge of the nerds with less boobs and more balls, Dumb Money finds a way to turn Reddit provocateurs into underdog heroes.

It does that through a humorously absurd yet oddly emotional glimpse into the day-trader uprising that sent the world of high finance into a panic in early 2021. Of course, any attempt to stage a coup against the corporate bigwigs who control the corrupt American financial system makes an easy rooting interest.

Positioning it as a David-versus-Goliath saga oversimplifies the moral complexities on both sides. However, behind a strong cast and with style and attitude to spare, the film from director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) digs sufficiently beneath the headlines to craft a stirring yarn doubling as a crash course in hedge funds and retail trading.

Defining its characters by their net worth, it’s a tale of haves and have-nots. Massachusetts financial advisor Keith Gill (Paul Dano) is somewhere in between. He has a wife (Shailene Woodley) and child, and enjoys sharing his investment theories on his Roaring Kitty YouTube channel.

“Dude, you never bet against Wall Street,” a friend advises as Keith becomes enamored with GameStop, the struggling mall retailer that wealthy hedge-fund managers are trying to bet against — known as a short squeeze — in order to turn a quick profit.

Against prevailing wisdom, Keith decides to invest heavily, and encourages his followers to do the same via online trading apps, thereby building shared wealth by artificially inflating the company’s stock price. It sparks the meme-filled WallStreetBets phenomenon.

Dano (The Batman) brings quirky charm and offbeat sympathy to his protagonist. The ensemble includes Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, America Ferrera, Myha’la Herrold, Pete Davidson, and Sebastian Stan.

Dumb Money tries to give its keyboard warriors, who became bored and played the stock market like a video game, too much credit as revolutionaries in order to fit the framework of a mainstream crowd-pleaser.

But the film does expand its scope beyond basement-dwellers to put faces on the sorts of everyday folks whose post-pandemic mental anguish and socioeconomic strife was real. It portrays with conviction the way they rallied around Roaring Kitty, despite being unsure whether he was a reckless showman or a subversive genius.

The screenplay, adapted from a book by Ben Mezrich, ultimately weaves its subplots into a compelling cautionary tale of risk and reward that deserves a following.

Rated R, 104 minutes.