Making a movie about the financial crisis of 2007-8 seems tricky to me because there are no winners or losers — only losers.  The American public lost immense amounts of money; the banks and government lost trust as well as money; people around the globe suffered as well. Now, according to this movie, not everyone lost money — a few people with vision foresaw the collapse and were able to capitalize upon it — but here’s the problem:  they are (were) losers, too.

Capitalism, as great as it can be, is also dangerous. The incessant push for money, for security, never ends, and the social chasm which divides the haves from the have nots will never be comfortably reconciled as long as the haves keep trying to have everything.  Well, enough moralizing.  This is supposed to be a movie review.

Adam McKay’s film dissects the situation before the crisis with as much financial detail as possible, dumbed down for people like me who find it incredibly tedious.  The “fourth wall” is repeatedly broken by a select group of celebrities who explain how the big banks overextended credit and refused to analyze the numbers which indicated an imminent problem.  I found this technique annoying and condescending, though the explanations themselves were welcome.

Ultimately, however, I found McKay’s film problematic and even dull, partly due to its subject.  It follows four people or groups of people who try to take advantage of the banks’ shortsightedness, but I wanted or expected some interaction between them, and there isn’t any.  The story is McKay’s polemic on the subject, yet it really ignores the government’s role in creating the situation and then being unable to control it until the big banks had to be bailed out using our money. What really bothers me is that none — and I mean none — of these characters takes a moral stand against the criminality.  Mark Baum (Steve Carell) sort of tries to, but even he cannot hold out against the prospect of making millions.

The acting is generally good (especially that of Carell) and the film is pretty solid at explaining the backstory of what really occurred.  To be fair, it is a pretty well made movie.  But it is a starkly depressing film which made me cringe in my seat.  I felt as if I had just watched murdering drug dealers double cross other murdering drug dealers, and I cannot bring myself to ignore the moral turpitude and enjoy such a sight — they’re all losers to me.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  13 January 2016.