Dumb Money, 2023.
Directed by Craig Gillespie.
Starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen, Vincent D’Onofrio, Dane DeHaan, Myha’la Herrold, Talia Ryder, Olivia Thirlby, Kate Burton, Rushi Kota, Deniz Akdeniz, Noel Tyler Torres, Nicolas Calero, David Faber, and Clancy Brown.
SYNOPSIS:
Dumb Money 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.
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, Dumb Money wouldn’t exist.
Never underestimate the power of the Internet, or in the case of stranger-than-fiction true story Dumb Money, how far supporters will go if they find something of merit in an online personality’s cause. Such loyalty is generally a dangerous thing, but for the followers of financial analyst Keith Gill (a nerdy but defiant and ballsy turn from Paul Dano, continuing to make each role wildly different from his last), going by the online alias Roaring Kitty on a Reddit subforum for Wall Street stock market betting, it turned out to be pretty lucrative, even if the means to get there contained certifiably insane leaps of faith and trust, holding onto stocks during a short squeeze of video game and electronics retail company GameStop.
This isn’t just follow-the-leader; it is follow-the-leader while walking a razor’s edge, with some cases involving people dumping what little monetary worth they have into the stock, eventually reaching army numbers against the rich (who have bet against the store chain and need it to fail, lest they lose their billions) in class warfare. There also probably aren’t many better choices of a director for telling this story other than Craig Gillespie, who succeeded in eliciting empathy from viewers for Tonya Harding of all athletes in I, Tonya, a bizarrely ludicrous tale about American fame and the backpedaling hypocrisy toward celebrities, containing comedic scenes that were so absurd they almost felt too dumb to be true until the ending credits flaunted the actual footage.
Craig Gillespie is a natural fit for a movie about some of the worst people you know on Reddit (although our main characters don’t engage in this behavior, it’s a page filled with offensive language toward the mentally disabled, autistic, and more), taking down some other worst people you might not necessarily know, but certainly have an ax to grind against.
However, that doesn’t mean he is looking to capture that I, Tonya lightning in a bottle outrageousness as Dumb Money, while filled with amusing moments and characters that exist as walking punchlines (Pete Davidson as Keith’s deadbeat pothead DoorDash driving/bike peddling brother), is sincere about not only its Wall Street revolution against a game rigged by excessively wealthy hedge fund owners, but also in showing that the people who get screwed over most are the ones deemed essential workers during a pandemic.
There is a somewhat crowded ensemble, nonetheless filled with noteworthy characters and performances such as hospital worker Jenny (America Ferrera, continuing to have a hell of a supporting actress year between this and her astonishing work in Barbie), a single mom who wants to pay off her debts, afford a vacation, and buy her young daughter braces.
Including Jenny, the investors are also comprised of college students deep in debt (who are also unafraid to do some PG-13 skin-revealing streams on the side to generate some cash for putting into the stock) and an actual GameStop employee (Anthony Ramos) with a nightmarish manager that will give PTSD to any customer who has ever stepped foot in those stores within the past 20 years (incessantly hounding his employee to harass buyers into opting into gift reward programs and more instead of simply buying a game and being done.)
As the stock continues to rise, there are cuts to Seth’s Rogan filthy rich hedge fund owner Gabe Plotkin, escalating in panic as the movement reaches roughly 8,000,000 investors. With zero self-awareness of his excess lifestyle, he turns to anyone and everyone (ranging from billionaires played by Vincent D’Onofrio and Nick Offerman) to bail him out of potential bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the CEOs of the stock market trading app Robinhood also come into play, oblivious to the problems that might arise once this short squeeze gets out of hand.
Everyone has their eyes on Roaring Kitty’s Reddit posting history, who still isn’t ready to sell, even after spikes following an investment of $50,000 have netted him millions. With a wife (Shailene Woodley) and a baby to provide for, maybe this insistence on escalating this class warfare further is dumb. The same could be said about any of these characters refusing to sell in solidarity. However, the screenplay from Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo (based on the book The Anti-Social Network by Ben Mezrich) is aware of this, with relatives and friends also present as a voice of reason, explaining that for as much of a thrill as it is to rise and push back against the Wall Street scum, this is real life and that there could be severe consequences if the situation is not handled responsibly.
Dumb Money does such a fine job striking that balance of danger and working-class heroics, utilizing social media montages to elicit that sense of adrenaline while juxtaposed against news clips of the flailing and frustrated wealthy elites (brilliantly set to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes). It’s okay that many of the supporting characters don’t feel fully fleshed out because Craig Gillespie is tapping into something bigger than these people, but the ludicrously successful movement itself, taking advantage of the 2021 pandemic-recovering setting to portray the great financial divide and how the wealthy elite truly do not give a damn about the essential workers they relied on during that time.
It may not be as momentous, boisterous, and bold as I, Tonya (easily his best film), but Dumb Money is smartly wild and entertainingly pointed enough to keep some stock invested in the talented filmmaker.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
