[FILM REVIEW] DUMB MONEY Review (2023)
Summary: David vs. Goliath tale about everyday people who flipped the script on Wall Street and got rich by turning GameStop (the video game store) into the world’s hottest company.
Year: 2023
Cinema Release Dates: 20th October 2023 (Australia), TBA (Thailand), 22nd September 2023 (UK), 29th September 2023 (USA)
VOD Release Dates: TBA
Country: USA
Director: Craig Gillespie
Screenwriter: Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo
Cast: Deniz Akdeniz (Briggsy), Clancy Brown (Steve Gill), Kate Burton (Elaine Gill), Nicolas Calero (Beau Campbell), Vincent D’Onofrio (Steve Cohen), Paul Dano (Keith Gill), Pete Davidson (Kevin Gill), Dane DeHaan (Brad), David Faber (David Faber), America Ferrera (Jenny), Tim Hayes (Norman Ashkenas), Myha’la Herrold (Riri), Damien Jimenez (Ashton), Rushi Kota (Bariju Bhatt), Nick Offerman (Ken Griffin), Dennis Ooi (Duke), Larry Owens (Chris), Anthony Ramos (Marcus Bagia), Seth Rogen (Gabe Plotkin), Talia Ryder (Harmony Williams), Sebastian Stan (Vlad Tenev), Olivia Thirlby (Yaara Plotkin), Noah Tyler Torres (Axl Campbell), Brian David Tracey (Mr. Donaldson), Shailene Woodley (Caroline Gill)
Running Time: 105 minutes
Classification: MA15+ (Australia), TBC (Thailand), 15 (UK), R (USA)
OUR DUMB MONEY REVIEWS
David Griffiths and Lee Griffiths’s Dumb Money Review
David’s rating Out Of 5
Lee’s rating Out Of 5
Alex First’s Dumb Money Review
Surely, it couldn’t possibly be true.
That was my reaction while watching this absorbing biographical comedic drama, which is, indeed, based on fact.
It concerns events that happened only relatively recently, but about which I had previously heard nothing.
Perhaps that was because they occurred in the US, but after seeing this pic I must say I found it strange that knowledge thereof didn’t filter through to me.
Now, I don’t want your eyes to glaze over because this is definitely not that sort of film, but it concerns a stock market practice called shorting.
More specifically, Dumb Money is about a mum and dad investor, who goes by the moniker Roaring Kitty, outsmarting Wall Street titans.
His real name is Keith Gill (Paul Dano).
Married to Caroline (Shailene Woodley), who believes in him and backs him, the pair has a baby.
Keith is from working class stock. He has a good for nothing, bong smoking brother, Kevin (Pete Davidson).
Keith works as financial analyst for Mass Mutual (Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company).
On the side, he runs a YouTube channel in which he posts his opinion on undervalued stocks and one in particular, GameStop.
It is a video game and gaming merchandise retailer.
Roaring Kitty does what others online don’t. He not only posts the share price of the stock, but his own balance sheet to show the money he is making or losing.
His number of followers grows and they, too, are tempted to invest in GameStop.
The share price of the stock, which Wall Street doesn’t rate, escalates rapidly, making Gill a multimillionaire and reshaping the lives of fellow investors.
On the minus side is the founder of a New York-based hedge fund Melvin Capital, Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), who has a low opinion of retail investors.
Dumb Money rides the highs and lows of the GameStop journey for many of those involved, forever changing the face of US investment.
As indicated, I found the movie fascinating.
Complete with an abundance of bad language, it is a tightrope of thrills and spills.
The personal overlaps with the professional.
Keith Gill et al are painted as the good guys (that we cheer on) and the mega-rich Wall Street types as unscrupulous (whom we boo and hiss).
Who could have guessed that a movie about investing could be so engaging? I couldn’t get enough of it.
Mind you, there are several precedents in terms of quality films of this genre.
Think Wall Street (1987), Rogue Trader (1999), Boiler Room (2000), Margin Call (2011), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and The Big Short (2015) for starters.
The performances are mighty.
Dano plays a naturalist and personable nerd, while Davidson is in his element as wayward and opinionated.
Woodley is totally credible as Keith’s rock – stoic and sensible.
America Ferrera has a terrific turn as Jenny, a single mother and nurse, who gets onto the gravy train.
So, too, Talia Ryder as stressed, gay student Harmony Williams.
Rogen and his character’s clients and contacts play up the archetypes of Wall Street arrogance.
Based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich, writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo weave an intriguing tale. Directed by Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya), Dumb Money maintains a cracking pace and provides us a rollercoaster ride to remember.
Alex’s rating Out Of 5
Average Subculture rating Out Of 5
Other Dumb Money Reviews:
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Trailer: