Film Review: "Dumb Money" (2023).

"When Wall Street rigged the game, he changed it." This is Dumb Money. This biographical comedy-drama film directed by Craig Gillespie, written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, and based on the 2021 book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich. The film is the ultimate David vs. Goliath tale, based on the insane true story of everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (yes, the mall videogame store) into the world’s hottest company. In the middle of everything is regular guy Keith Gill, who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock and posting about it. When his social posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets rich – until the billionaires fight back, and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.

In January 2021, it was announced that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) had bought the rights to Mezrich's book proposal about the then-recent GameStop short squeeze. In May, Blum and Angelo were hired to pen the script. In April 2022, Gillespie was hired to direct, with the intention of filming to start later that year around summer or fall. In September, it was announced that the film was retitled to Dumb Money, and production was set to commence in October, with MGM dropping out, while Black Bear Pictures acquired financing and sought buyers at the annual Toronto International Film Festival. In October, Sony Pictures bought the domestic and select international distribution rights to the film for $20 million. By October, Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D'Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen, Dane DeHaan, Clancy Brown, Kate Burton, and Olivia Thirlby were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in November. Filming took place throughout New Jersey.

The film stars Dano, Davidson, D'Onofrio, Ferrera, Offerman, Ramos, Stan, Woodley, Rogen, DeHaan, Brown, Burton, and Thirlby. Even a talented cast cannot make this labyrinthine topic fully understandable unless the viewer is already modestly familiar with the subject matter. The standout, however, is Paul Dano's righteously angry Keith Gill. Dano was primarily known as both a comedic and dramatic actor, but he's been moving back and forth between the two for a while now.

Trying to keep up with all of the fast market talk and financial blather wore me down. And there’s so much emphasis on it that the movie comes off as overstuffed and missing the human element which would have given it a more powerful punch. There isn't a sense of winning or losing - merely weathering the periods of time when the villainy of giant corporations and the righteousness of average joes are at their most extreme. Smart, funny, scary, ingeniously populated and a rollicking good time, the film was such a left-field bolt from the blue and an enormously entertaining few hours in the cinema.

Simon says Dumb Money receives:

Also, see my review for Cruella.