Dumb Money
Digging in to the events surrounding the 2021 Wall Street saga of the Gamestop short squeeze, web financial guru Roaring Kitty/Keith Gill (Paul Dano) is a social media influencer who gains the trust of the public in this modern day David and Goliath triumph over hedge fund investors looking to profit on failed businesses; a financial roulette that also has the interest of the U.S. Government. Eventually, someone will have to pay for bad investment decisions, but will it be the billionaires such as Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) or the average citizens such as Marcus Barcia (Anthony Ramos) and nurse Jenny (America Ferrera)?
Written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Antisocial Network and Directed by Craig Gillespie, with Executive Producer credits going to Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (yes the twins from the 2004 Facebook lawsuit now turned cryptocurrency investors). It’s a star studded ensemble piece told from multiple viewpoints in a way that manages to keep the majority of its stars from ever sharing the screen at the same time. Truly an exercise in Covid filmmaking protocols that plays to its strengths and relies on compelling story, solid acting, and the constant drive of the market to quite accurately re-count the bigger details of the actual events, even if some of the story lines are still fictionalized; end result, a story that infuriates as much as it entertains, with perhaps a bit more rage than entertainment. This worthy endeavor doesn’t get too heavy into the actual ins and outs of Wall Street, rather, running one hour and forty five minutes it’s a quick start guide into economics and just enough to get the viewer interested. Dumb Money is rated R.