Dumb Money
3/4
Some of my friends were recently saying that my next column should be about the new Taylor Swift concert movie. I refused and went to a different movie instead. This was because, with all due respect to Swift and her millions of fans, concert movies aren’t movies: they’re a scheduled event that someone took a video of and then cut it to make it look like a movie, and I’m not paying for something that shouldn’t even be on the screen in the first place.
So instead, I went to see Craig Gillespie’s newest comedy, Dumb Money. Reviews were solid and people were enjoying it, so I bought a ticket to see it.
Based on the notorious GameStop short squeeze incident that took place during January 2021, this movie uses powerful acting, well-timed humour, and filmmaking to brilliantly convey this historical event.
All of the actors do a spectacular job, but the standout here is Paul Dano. He plays Keith Gill, a financial analyst who produces a podcast under the name Roaring Kitty that successfully predicts the 2021 shortage. From displaying Gill’s happy moments—when he gets the money—to his unhappy moments—where everything takes a turn for the worse—Dano portrays Gill with a sense of humour that really made me laugh out loud.
Another thing that’s great about this movie is its script. The humour really lands here, and the script takes on a The Big Short-like approach to the financial system. This is the strongest element of the movie, because it’s handled in a clear and understandable way.
Although I do think The Big Short is a better movie, I found Dumb Money easier to understand.
I also really liked the description of the pandemic hell we all went through. It really showed how people’s despair played into the creation of the shortage, which was very interesting.
I wasn’t expecting much, but thanks to a really funny script, on-key performances, and approach to the tough-to-understand subject matter, Dumb Money is easily one of the year’s funniest films.