During the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic, in January of 2021, a short squeeze of the stock of video game retailer GameStop, by a group of redditors, stunned the world. It was the ultimate “eat the rich” statement.
I watched Craig Gillespie’s ”Dumb Money”, which tackles this true story, and it’s a fairly watchable affair, but tamper your expectations. The filmmaking is not that ambitious and, tonally, as it depicts around a dozen characters in just over 100 minutes, it’s quite messy.
By trying to make sense of what happened, Gillespie uses the same blueprint as “The Big Short” to tell this story — a lot of flashy, in-your-face and dumbed-down, for the masses, storytelling. The performances are good, the standout is Paul Dano as the YouTuber who started the chaos with just one line (“I like the stock”).
The reviews seem to be giving it a pass. A 91% on Rotten Tomatoes and 67 on Metacritic. This film won’t start a movement, it’s not earth-shattering, just the kind of thing that’s more meant for a streamer than any kind of theatrical experience.
Of course, we all know the rule: take these reactions with a grain of salt rather than treating them as gospel. Still, I will say that the film tested like gangbusters earlier this year, and Lionsgate clearly has confidence.