I watched the film The Big Short last week and had been meaning to post some thoughts about it here before now. That good intention slipped (as many do). I was brought back to the film by Peter Bradshaw's review today in The Guardian Online. Mr, Bradshaw, whose film criticism is always worth reading, was considerably less impressed by the film than I was. Here's just one part of his two-star review:I came to The Big Short in a state of anticipation, only to be baffled at how smug, laborious and self-important it is, trying to combine Gordon Gekko sexiness with anti-banker correctness, like Oliver Stone’s Wall Street rewritten by Malcolm Gladwell and Justin Welby. It’s a film that doesn’t let you have your cake, or eat it. And how agonisingly it keeps stopping to explain technical stuff by bringing on celeb guest stars such as superchef Anthony Bourdain or singer Selena Gomez to recite the patronising and gimmicky mini-explanations written for them.
I was kinder. I added my twopence-worth in the comments section below the article. This is what I wrote.
It is quite a difficult film to rate. Parts of it worked well, I thought (breaking the 4th wall worked well for me and I thought the performances were very good). Parts of it not so well, although I did wonder if what seemed like a weak script at times (e.g. the Florida mortgage brokers' bragging) had more to do with the fact that the truth about those people at that time is more difficult to accept than fiction - as in, 'you couldn't make up this stuff'.
I think as well it's interesting to contrast The Big Short with Spotlight: two drama-documentaries about small, tightly bound groups of (predominantly) men seeking to uncover hidden truths about corrupt social institutions - one group for personal gain, the second group for a higher moral purpose. I quite enjoyed both films but I couldn't stop thinking about how old-fashioned & trad Spotlight felt in its style, technique and structure. Maybe that was intentional (although I doubt it). For all its flaws (some of which I agree with PB about - a degree of smugness, the almost total absence of dramatic concern with the folk who were ripped off by those sharks) The Big Short does seem to be trying to tell its kind of story in a more contemporary manner.
Two out of five is a bit harsh. It's a film worth watching even if it doesn't deliver all the time.
I guess that means I'd give it three, maybe three and a half. Still worth the ticket price.
