The Big Short Review
Just short of Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar…
The Big Short is a rather tongue-in-cheek look at the housing market crash and the few people who saw it coming. The film itself follows 8 men all hedging their bets against the market and the economy. The way this is presented I have to say does follow a rather similar fashion to that of The Wolf Of Wall Street however The Big Short does provide certain elements to keep you on your toes. For starters, each character looks at the situation through a completely different lens, rather than the mildly one sided view that The Wolf of Wall Street has to offer. For instance, our rather Jordan Belfort-esque portrayal of Jared Vennett by Ryan Gosling shows a more harsh and money driven side to the crash. However Steve Carrell shows a lot more emotion in terms of sadness in the character of Mark Baum. He shows the side of the people rather than the money, as he sees what will happen to people’s jobs, houses and so on.
However, as much as I enjoyed Steve Carrell’s short outbursts of humour, in this film, nothing appears to compare to Gosling. As usual, and as seen in previous films such as Lars and The Real Girl and Drive, he is transformed into someone totally different to anything we’ve seen him do before yet he is exactly what we expect. His charisma and downright sass is what really made his character come alive. As always, he delivers us a performance with utter precision and ease. You could say that his character gets a little too close at times to the Wolf of Wall Street style, in terms of arrogance and the humour put across but I do have to say, Gosling has a certain flair that sets him apart from good ol’ Leo (definitely not to complain about the wonderful performance he gave us back in 2013).
The one person who really struck me has to be Finn Wittrock. He may have been wowing people over the past 2 years with his wondrous (if not over the top) characters in American Horror Story, but Jamie Shipley is a long way away from Dandy Mott! His portrayal of Jamie shows a tamer side to what we have seen before but there’s most definitely a light humour to this character. We see him go from curling up on a sofa almost in tears to dancing around a casino lobby in just over 2 hours. There’s a delightful evolution to his character as we basically see him go from boy to man just because (just like the rest of the characters) he saw what no one else did, even if it was through the ideas presented by our very own Christian Bale.
A selling point for many people about this film (that’s with me included) was Christian Bale’s portrayal of Mike Burry. I have to say I was actually sorely disappointed. He starts out very strong with a rather amusing introduction to his character, with his glass eye and really rather terrible social skills. But very soon it all feels very lazy as he almost seems brushed to the side. As soon as he leaves the bank after making what seems to be the worst deal that could have ever been made, it feels as if we are forced to focus elsewhere. He becomes genuinely bland in a very short space of time, which doesn’t say a lot for our former protector of Gotham.
I do feel that Brad Pitt also seems to have been sold rather short (no pun intended) as he doesn’t appear to progress very much throughout the film. It seems that for the first part we are waiting for his introduction and then are left disappointed when he is gone as quickly as he arrives (much like Meryl Streep in Suffragette. You are drawn in because of her name on the banner and then she has about 15 minutes of screen time). As much as I enjoyed his preposterously dull persona and his very dry humour, I still wasn’t impressed with the fact that there plainly isn’t enough of him.
I think my favourite thing about this film has to be the fact that you really don’t need to know a great deal about the stock or housing market to find this film accessible and ultimately watchable. They don’t dumb down too much to make you feel stupid but I find it’s simplified in a downright fun and humourous way. The “cut aways” with random celebrities really tickled my funny bone and had me in tears while also keeping me in the loop and correctly informed. I mean, who wouldn’t want the likes of Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez half naked telling you all about synthetic CDOs and then bluntly telling you to fuck off? (Also, in short, CDOs are a term used for bonds that are almost useless being disguised as something that will make a lot of money.) If you haven’t seen the film I’m sure that it all sounds very patronising and possibly rather crude but I can assure that it will leave at least a cheeky grin on your face for a day or two.
In summary, The Big Short was an utter delight to watch with its star studded cast and surprisingly catchy soundtrack. It may have skimmed over a few things that most would be expecting from, it but it still didn’t draw too much of a negative to distract from the story. Also the slight breaks of the fourth wall will really have you smiling. All in all a great watch, especially if The Wolf of Wall Street contained a little too sex and violence for you.
