the big short

[IMDB] [Amazon]

the big short was sort of entertaining, largely due to ryan gosling's efforts, but also because steve carell was not painful to watch, for a change.  i think they were trying to show the protagonists to be just as big a bunch of assholes as the bankers that they were up against, and they portrayed the struggle as if it were between the bankers.  however, it was really kind of a self-serving vision.  they paid lip service to the common people who both the protagonists and antagonists were *really* up against, and as a result, the cynicism that caked this movie from top to bottom fell flat.  i guess this story might have worked better in documentary format?  i am probably biased, since i think "based on a true story" is the most useless thing you can say about any work of fiction.

while i am complaining, all this crap with the characters addressing the camera was completely misplaced.  i *think* they did it because otherwise the educational materials ("cyril figgis explains how derivatives work") would have been too jarring, but i really only like being addressed by characters that i either like or admire, and i had neither sentiment for any character in this movie.  except maybe angry vinny, who would have been my absolute favorite if ryan gosling had not stolen both the show and my heart first.  anyway, there was too much entertainment stuffed into the educational materials, and it seemed pitched more so the audience would only clearly understand very simple, biased viewpoints, such as "CDO == bad."  this was a supremely annoying dilution of the educational value, and i doubt that very many people really learned anything about the financial instruments in question.  as a further data point, i submit to you that i had to pause the movie at least five times to explain something or another to the rest of the audience.

the big short gets three ARMs, barely.