Dumb Money

During the course of the pandemic, I'm sure many of us remember the craze to keep ourselves busy with new hobbies as gyms and general recreational "hanging out" closed down. 

Many people turned to stocks, specifically Robinhood, in an effort to learn more about investing and the stock market in general. Largely from this, came the Gamestop phenomenon where a large mass of "normal folk" traders were able to stick it to Wall Street hedge fund managers. Even in the midst of all this happening, I knew there would be a Big Short-esque movie about this some day, so here we are with Dumb Money.

Much like The Big Short, Dumb Money generally does a great job at bringing its audience along to make sure everyone is on the same page of technical understanding. I think it could have done better with some of the gritty specifics - perhaps by having Margot Robbie explain calls and puts while in a bathtub? - but otherwise the gist comes across. 

This is one of those financial story films that just plain works. It's got a star-studded cast with a subdued, but talented core performance from Paul Dano, and remains interesting, compelling, and surprisingly heart-felt throughout. It's that latter element that I didn't expect, partially because I guess I forgot that this all happened during the pandemic. But within moments we're reintroduced to lots of characters in masks, a palpable sense of loneliness among their various stories, and even some related loss that I was unaware of from the true story. It's packaged in a straight forward and efficient 115 minute lesson about how one man quite literally changed the stock market. 

Similar to other films on tangential topics, Dumb Money is also quite funny. It knows when to use jokes and thanks to a notable supporting performance from Pete Davidson, a witty script, lots of naughty language, and some hilarious pulls of old Reddit memes/gifs, there are plenty of laughs to be had. 

I'm glad that Dumb Money got a higher quality film to tell the crazy GameStop story. It's truly remarkable, and would have been very disappointing to see a "cash grab" version of this (which I'm sure exist and maybe I'm forgetting). But if you're looking to learn more about it, relive it in some fashion, or get some good laughs, this is a perfect dramedy to go catch in the theaters. 

Rapid Rath's Review Score | 8/10