‘The Big Short’ review: Rock and roll finance with Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale and Steve Carell

In 1933, four years after the start of the Great Depression, the American housing market crashed. Nearly 75 years later, it happened again and not many people predicted it. A small group did, and they bet big on the economy collapsing. They are the subject of Michael Lewis’ The Big Short and the film based on it, directed by Adam McKay. Brace yourself, because you are going to need a notebook to follow along.

The film revolves around three groups of outsiders who see that the bubble is about to burst. Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) is a California-based hedge fund manager, who picks up on it first. Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) hears about Burry’s plan to bet against the banks and brings it to Mark Baum (Steve Carell). Meanwhile, Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Whitlock) also think that the economy will collapse, so they enlist reclusive former trader Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) to help them.

The Big Short is not put together like your usual “ripped from the headlines” movie. McKay uses his wits to take the audience from scene to scene and holds our hands at every step of the way. Gosling’s wry commentary helps, as do random appearances from Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez. Part of this is because McKay clearly doesn’t have faith in his material to be easily understandable, but it’s also an inventive way to push the story ahead.

Whatever McKay and co-writer Charles Randolph do though, there’s no way for Wall Street jargon to be as easily understood as the journalism process is in Spotlight. At one point, we are told that much of Wall Street’s lingo exists just to keep outsiders out and it feels like the film does little to fix that. If you zone out for even a minute, you might miss a piece of the giant puzzle being put together. This is just the way the subject is and it’s hard to see how McKay could have done anything differently.

Lingo aside, the ensemble cast is excellent. Steve Carell builds on his performance in Foxcatcher, once again proving his versatility as an actor. It is hard for any one actor to stand out in the film, but Carell does it, becoming the fussy Mark easily. His character’s overbearing personality never gets old because Carell is such a joy to see.

Like Carell, Christian Bale is also asked to play a character you couldn’t see him as. Michael is an introvert who can’t work without heavy metal rock blaring from his computer. It’s an unusually quiet role for Bale, but he completely becomes Michael. Bale is practically in a different movie - his character never meets Carell or Brad Pitt - and he still feels a part of it. None of the characters really know it, but Michael works as the film’s launch point. Pull him out, and the whole thing falls like the Jenga pieces Gosling uses.

Gosling is the film’s funny bone and Pitt is the serious stoic. They don’t get much screen time, although it is hard to forget about them.

The Big Short is an unexpected film from the talent behind the camera and in front of it. While it’s easy to see the actors trying different types of roles, it is surprising to see McKay, who is better known for Will Ferrell comedies, behind the wheel. The subject matter isn’t funny and the film makes sure to convince us that these main characters aren’t heroes. They never did anything that helped the average person from losing their home or job in 2008. But they are the perfect group of oddballs needed to make an engaging film about the housing crisis and the collapse of the American economy.

The Big Short is probably the most depressing film of the year, mostly because we all know that in the end, nothing happened. One person went to jail and he wasn’t even a major player in the banks. None of the banks were broken up. There’s something American about the way it all ended, as if we were convinced that all we needed to do was just learn what we did wrong and hope it never happens again. The Big Short presents it in the most American way possible - with help from Hollywood.