Film Review: The Big Short

The Big Short. Rated M (coarse language and nudity). 130 minutes. Directed by Adam McKay. Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay. Based on the book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis.
 
The Big Short, a film about the housing market-fuelled global financial crisis of 2007, is both as interesting and as brain-numbingly boring as it sounds.

A poor cousin to Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), The Big Short is yet another story of greed, corruption, fraud, ambition and selfishness – those benchmark characteristics that continue to define those working at the top of the food chain on Wall Street in the USA.

The fine ensemble, lead by Christian Bale and Steve Carell, do lots of Really Big Acting – obviously aware that the majority of audience members around the world will be staring blankly at the screen wondering what it all means, and why it matters.

The Big Short’s significant flaw is that it did matter – enormously – and McKay (The Other Guys, Anchorman, Anchorman 2) struggles to find a way to prove that to be the case. Counter-pointed with oblique references to the tragic human cost of the continuing pandemic of greed, are a number of singularly indulgent and condescending cameos from celebrities (including The Wolf of Wall Street’s Margot Robbie) who try to explain what all the financial jargon means.

It’s a narrow conceit, particularly given that The Big Short is obsessed with the powerlessness we face when the financial system erodes the fundamental needs of hard-working people who simply want a roof over their heads.

If there is a lasting sensibility from the experience of this film, it is that you may leave the cinema determined to invest more in a life of simpler, spiritually enhancing experiences. Because the system that determines everything else about our future security and wellbeing is not, and never will be, ours to control.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: Anchorman 2

Anchorman 2. Rated M (sexual references, drug use, coarse language and comedic violence). 119 minutes. Directed by Adam McKay. Written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.

Verdict: Ferrell and Co are back in fine, and mostly hilarious, form.

Picking up several months from where Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) left off, this sequel ploughs right on in to the same squirm-inducing terrain on the back of Will Ferrell’s wonderful portrayal of the super-vain television news anchorman Ron Burgundy.

When his now wife Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is chosen over Ron to become the first female news anchor in television history, Ron’s bitterness and jealousy drives them apart. But when Ron is invited to anchor the graveyard shift of a new Australian-owned Global News Network (GNN), the first 24-hour television news service, he reunites his gang of hapless misfits to take Veronica on in the battle of the ratings.

Ferrell’s vainglorious Burgundy is a masterpiece of shameless clowning, and the verbal slapstick throughout Ferrell and McKay’s screenplay is hugely entertaining in a ‘did they really just get away with that?’ kind of way. In sequence after sequence, political correctness is simply trampled underfoot, particularly the gasp-inducing exploits involving Ron and his family at the lighthouse he retires to after an accident.

Steve Carell’s endearing weatherman Brick, David Koechner’s overly-affectionate redneck sportscaster Champ, and Paul Rudd’s equally-vain reporter Brian provide ever-reliable support, with Carrell’s appearance in front of the state-of-the-art ‘green screen’ weather map an absolute highlight.

If the film comes close to drowning in chaos towards the end, there has been much to laugh at up until the point of no return – when not even cameos from the likes of Jim Carrey, Tina Fey and Liam Neeson can save it from over-playing its hand. But restraint and none-too-subtle jabs at the dubious morals of a manufactured 24-hour televised news cycle are of little concern to Ferrell and Co. They aim for madcap, character-based shenanigans and, refreshingly, manage to mostly bring it off successfully.

This review was commissioned by the West Australian Newspaper Group.

Film Review: The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. Rated M (comedic violence and sexual references). 100 minutes. Directed by Don Scardino. Screenplay by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley.

Verdict: A big-hearted entertainment about the value of childhood wonder.

Having bonded as young outcasts over a Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin) magic kit, the now adult Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carell) and Anton Marvelton’s (Steve Buscemi) magic show has ruled Las Vegas for years – bringing them great wealth and fame. But when the death-defying stunts of the notorious Steve Gray (Jim Carrey) begin to make their act look dated and unadventurous by comparison, they find themselves dumped by their casino-owning boss Doug Munny (James Gandolfini) and in search of work. While Anton goes abroad to bring the joys of magic to the developing world, the bankrupt and homeless Wonderstone goes it alone – determined to find a way to reclaim his wealth and fame.