top of page

The Big Short (2015)

Writer's picture: litandflickslitandflicks

Laura’s Rating: 4.5/5 Stars


The movie is based on the 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis and stars Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt. It won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.


The Analysis:


The Big Short centers on eccentric hedge fund manager Dr. Michael Burry and others, who decided to bet against the U.S. housing market, after discovering it was based on subprime mortgage loans or essentially built on nothing of value. At the time, it was widely believed that the housing market was rock solid and could never go down. Those who bet against it were ridiculed and criticized for the enormous risk involved, until ultimately their predictions came true in 2007 and 2008.


The movie explains exactly what happened in the years leading up to the housing market bubble that burst in 2007-2008 and led to a world financial crisis and recession. For someone like me, who was in middle school at the time this occurred and is still not especially well-versed in the financial world, the movie was truly eye-opening and fascinating. I appreciated the insight and explanation in this film because I never knew all the details about why the housing market crashed and how it caused a worldwide economic crisis.


As the movie points out, high level financial stuff is confusing and unfamiliar, and Wall Street executives probably like it that way. Big banks, hedge funds, and even credit rating agencies are all connected and try to mitigate risk for themselves at any cost. Due to the technical details of the events that occurred, the movie included several cut-scenes featuring famous celebrities who broke the fourth wall to help explain complex financial terms and procedures directly to the audience. Not only was this unique and entertaining, but I found it to be extremely helpful to my understanding of the movie. I did still have to use all my brain power to concentrate and follow along with the complicated financial jargon and inner workings of the investment world, but I think I managed to come away with a basic understanding.


The Big Short may sound boring and it’s certainly not the type of movie I would usually pick, but I urge people to give it a try. The acting in the movie is good, especially Christian Bale and Brad Pitt (Does Christian Bale ever portray a normal, boring character? Not that I’ve seen.) The insight into what was going on in the housing and mortgage world at the time is fascinating and something that people should learn more about. Anyone remotely interested in financial literacy or recent history needs to watch this movie.



3 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


©2020 by Laura's Lit and Flicks. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page