It's stylish and well-performed and has a few fun moments and memorable sequences, but given the talent involved this is disappointing. Despite their many attempts to make sense of the dialogue for those uninterested or uninformed in financial terminology (including an amusing framing device with such stars as Margot Robbie, Anthony Bourdain and Selena Gomez), a good portion of this movie made no sense to me. It almost feels like Sorkin-lite at points too. That being said, the acting is universally strong. Steve Carell is fantastic as is Christian Bale and both are easily the standouts. Unfortunately most of the actresses involved here (including Oscar winners Marisa Tomei and Melissa Leo as well as the charming Karen Gillan) are completely underused. Adam McKay is clearly passionate about this subject matter and makes it clear that the point of this film is to educate, even infuriate. But it left me a bit distant. B-/C+

I fucking hated this movie. I found it incredibly obnoxious, hard to follow and incredibly dull.

D

it's an entertaining two hours

it seems to play well to those who sort-of understand the financial crisis and/ or have read the book

and seems to be leaving a lot of others confused, which is disappointing, because the movie is somewhat limited in depth and meandering and should be used to educate people. the entertainment mostly comes from gimmicks, cameos, and brad pitt's makeover - not from drama or good storytelling

At once a hyperactive comedy and a searing polemic, The Big Short concerns a small group of people who predicted the U.S. housing crisis—the end result of the poorly regulated and fraudulent bundling of subprime mortgages—and devised a credit-default-swap system to wager against the health of the nation's economy. The clever and cynical doomsayers are portrayed by a top-notch ensemble cast, including Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt. Best among them may be Bale as a barefooted, heavy-metal-listening surgeon-turned-investor with Asperger's—there is a poignant quality to his profound understanding of finance and his matching incomprehension of interpersonal communication—but every player is superb and contributes to the whole.

With this film, director Adam McKay, known best for Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and its sequel, reveals an angrier and more serious voice while maintaining improvisational buoyancy. His hand-held, loose, and postmodern style, with its flip asides (Margot Robbie sips champagne and explains derivatives in a bubble bath!) and rapid-fire pace, invites us to admire the characters' lucrative prescience while also mourning the felonious and unquenchable soul of an as-yet-unpunished Wall Street. This dynamic is particularly potent as the caper-movie exhilaration and mischief of the second act gives way to an inevitable, sobering denouement.

A

This film was fantastic. I wanted to see it mainly for the cast, but I hardly had any expectations going in besides it was suppose to be pretty great. It's true a lot of the wall street/banking lingo goes in one ear and out the other, but I got the jest of it which was enough. I'll also say the subject doesn't appeal to me much either eventhough I loved The Wolf of Wall Street, but obviously this is nothing like that movie. I wouldn't even really call it a comedy, but there are some funny moments and the movie is very entertaining overall. Steve Carell and Christian Bale are easily the standouts while Gosling and Pitt are just there, but are good too. Honestly, the whole cast gave commendable, engaging performances even those who were underused like Tomei and Leo and especially the guys who played Geller and Shipley. Loved the use of the celebrity cameos aswell and will definitely check this out again just to catch the stuff I may have missed the first time.

There are times during The Big Short that I just wanted to whisper at the screen, "slow down!" It's all edited and packaged in a rather frenzied fashion. By the end, that ends up being the perfect presentation for the material. As helmed by Adam McKay, the movie is an acerbic, deeply cynical, brainy and hilarious foray into the falling of dominoes that led to the market collapse. The film is easy enough to follow for viewers paying attention, but thankfully they don't truly dumb everything down. A strong ensemble can be found here, with Steve Carell as the perfect embodiment of bitter disillusionment, Christian Bale is terrific in a performance free of tics, while Ryan Gosling is the comedic standout of the cast. See it. Laugh. Get mad. A-

D, all the critics giving Praise to this horrible piece of shit is analogous to the AAA Credit Ratings being handed out to junk bonds. audiences are deceived by the bullshit awards hype and gimmicky starpower that it's supposed to be a good movie, while the movie studio and producers laugh all the way to the bank.

Hun, take a seat.

Really impressed by this one. After taking 10-15 minutes to warm up to it, from Gosling explaining CDOs on the storytelling becomes madly entertaining. Adam McKay is the breakout star, the combination of the naturalistic cinematography, hyper editing, music choices, etc. make it a unique and sparkling experience without going off the rails. The film simultaneously has comedy while taking itself seriously enough to not just be making jokes. The heart of the characters are kept in the film, how likeable is Christian Bale sitting in his office wondering why the bonds haven't fallen yet. Factors like making Carell emotional by giving him anger issues and a dead brother making him the right type of soul to have his eyes slowly opened. The young hedge fund managers Finn Wattrock and John Magaro representing the youthful hedgefund exuberance in a way steal the show, even from a Brad Pitt role that's designed to steal the show but is just pretty good. Ryan Gosling has a role like Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross where comes in and kick ass without any more emotional depth, but he's at his best. The film's dialog allows itself to be as complex as the material deserves, while telling us as much as we need to know to not get totally lost. I'm not sure if the film's insight on the human condition is the deepest of the year, but it makes a point enough to show the human cost, and by the end it's clear this is as much about fraudulence and negligence for people more than the banks being stupid. For the Big Shorters, the victory is sombre at best. One of the best films of the year

BJs Grade:

A

best movie of 2015

Well this movie sure made me #FeelTheBern. Or just #PunchMaxGreenfeld.

Going in, I had a (very) basic idea of what happened with the housing collapse. This information mostly came from guests on Real Time, including Bernie and Adam McKay. Even without that I think the movie would have been fine. They outright say that the language is purposefully confusing. So I could follow the plot even when I didn't understand the jargon. I definitely appreciated Margot Robbie in a bubble bath. And the cooking metaphor was fine too. As much as I like looking at Selena, the third was unnecessary. Gosling could have handled that one without breaking the flow of the third act. There's a few other cutesy things that annoyed me, but it was mostly done right.

Carrell is the star here, completely becoming his character. Bale is great in the first act but doesn't get much to do after that. Everyone else is fine, but I found myself waiting for them to cut back to Steve. He makes the bloaty scenes fun. Neither Max Greenfeld or the middle eastern guy needed to be in the movie. We were gonna hate the banks even without weasley faces attached to them. Yet watching Steve Carrell boil makes these scenes great. In those times it captures the spirit of Wolf, which let you ride along with the characters instead of just beating you over the head with the Stick of Cynicism.

And that is also my biggest issue, making it so political. This isn't because I disagree with the politics, but because that is where most of the bloat comes from. The story itself condemns the banks and makes them villains. But they keep hammering it all movie long. Was any of the vegas conference necassary? And it never even considers that people also have themselves to blame. "Whats so wrong with someone buying something they can't pay for?" Just adding extra sleaze to predatory loaners doesn't really excuse people for their own bad choices. People like that have always taken advantage of the stupid and the desperate, but it usually doesn't cause an economic meltdown. The banks are clearly worse and the villains here, but that is why I call these scenes bloat and not development. The act is bad enough.

I like how the movie is also a warning and I'm glad McKay/Pitt are using their pull to make it. I just wish it didn't make the story lose focus so often. That's keeps it from being an A film for me. Still very good though.

Also, "When The Levees Break" is one of the most appropriate end credits songs I've heard. I'm so glad they didn't just go with a lame cover of it.

Great. Wildly interesting, entertaining, I didn't want the film to end really. Great talent on the screen, Bale is definitely the highlight, but Carrell and Gosling are at their best as well, so is all of Carrell's crew. Excellent script, and very well directed too, McKay's best film, he can do so much more than just comedy he proves. It parallels well to Wolf of Wall Street, and Inside Job as other quality films about either it's flashy reflection of banking, or it's in depth look in what went down respectively. Delightful watch.

A

well i found it mostly boring and dull

loved the cameos though, naturally

Film of the year. I loved it.

It was very well shot and edited, so it was never too boring, but you need a college degree in economics to understand anything anyone is saying. The framing device does not help, though it is amusing.

C

I loved this one and it is definitely one of the best movies of 2015.

8/10.

bilge

This is super cool. I loved it when characters would break the fourth, and also loved it when they did the explanation scenes (especially the Robbie one). I felt they did a great job of explaining things which for most people are complicated ideas. I thought Bale was terrific, and Carell was also very committed. Gosling was just cool and his usual self, but I still liked him. I wanted to get more of a sense of the win by the early betters of this idea. That would have made it better for me. And while they did a good job of conveying the terms and practices in the financial world that led to the crash, I still got a bit lost in some conversations. B+

Fun, and it does it's best to be so smart. It's Flashy and fun B+ Great performances throughout. It's a great MOVIE
B+
Margin Call is a much better film.