The Big Short (2015)

The Big Short is a fast, darkly comic dramatization of the events leading up to the 2007–2008 U.S. housing crash. Based on Michael Lewis’s book, the film follows several small, outsider investor groups—led by the obsessive hedge-fund manager Michael Burry, the skeptical Mark Baum, the slick salesman Jared Vennett, and two young traders aided by a retired banker—who independently discover that the mortgage-backed securities market is a fragile, fraudulent house of cards. They place bold bets against the housing market and, as the bubble collapses, watch the financial world and millions of ordinary people suffer. Seeing the movie you’ll experience a smart, breathless mix of whip-smart humor and moral outrage. The storytelling is kinetic and often breaks the fourth wall: complex financial instruments and jargon are stripped down with surprising, pop-culture-flavored explanations and celebrity cameos so the audience actually understands why the crash happened. Performances are energetic and anchored by sharp dialogue; the film swings between comic absurdity and moments of real human cost, leaving you both entertained and unsettled. Overall, The Big Short is equal parts crash-course in finance, scathing satire of Wall Street’s hubris, and an emotional portrait of what happens when profit-driven systems collapse. You’ll come away clearer about the mechanics of the crisis, angry at the systemic corruption, and conflicted by the bittersweet thrill of watching a few people profit from a catastrophe that ruined so many lives.

Actors: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling

Director: Adam McKay

Runtime: 130 min

Genres: Biography, Comedy, Drama

6.8 /10 81 /100 7.8 /10 7.6 /10