OK, first off, there ain't near enough humor in it for it to be labeled a comedy. And yeah, it's an incomplete picture, but only because it pulls up short at every opportunity it had to present the whole story.
The scene with the model in the bubble-bath sipping champagne while mulling over the implications of all those sub-prime mortgages came as close as it got to spilling the beans. Then there was the ditsy former government regulator who was now on the payroll of the people she used to regulate (or vice versa). And amidst all the international chaos, it never mentions Canada which never succumbed to the politically correct pursuit of "affordable housing" which mandated that lending institutions ignore minimal prudent background qualifications for a mortgage--and thus avoided the crisis as much as it could in such close proximity to the US.
Yeah, the banks ran with it when the saw Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac buying up all that bad debt. But who started the whole thing and who enabled it? With all the technical talk they get into in the banking end of the mortgage industry, it never mentions the Community Reinvestment Act (which goes back to Carter), or Dodd/Frank. The quality of the movie is way above a 7/10, but this one-sided aspect to the story drags it down to that. It more than just ignores the problem.
"The Big Short"--review
-
Stewball
- Posts: 3009
- 2188 Ratings
- Your TCI: na
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:18 pm
-
TheSean
- Posts: 51
- 1220 Ratings
- Your TCI: na
- Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:08 am
Re: "The Big Short"--review
Haven't seen this yet. But I'm not looking forward to friends seeing it and becoming "experts" on the '08 crash. 
-
Stewball
- Posts: 3009
- 2188 Ratings
- Your TCI: na
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:18 pm
Re: "The Big Short"--review
TheSean wrote:Haven't seen this yet. But I'm not looking forward to friends seeing it and becoming "experts" on the '08 crash.
Or worse than that, it getting awards that reinforces their "expertise". The movie is well titled, with its half-truth being the Big Short.
-
TheSean
- Posts: 51
- 1220 Ratings
- Your TCI: na
- Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:08 am
Re: "The Big Short"--review
Stewball wrote:TheSean wrote:Haven't seen this yet. But I'm not looking forward to friends seeing it and becoming "experts" on the '08 crash.
Or worse than that, it getting awards that reinforces their "expertise". The movie is well titled, with its half-truth being the Big Short.
Like Bowling For Columbine! Large audience. Plenty of awards. Complete garbage (though based on your review it seems The Big Short wasn't 'complete' garbage)
-
TheSean
- Posts: 51
- 1220 Ratings
- Your TCI: na
- Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 4:08 am
Re: "The Big Short"--review
I'm interested to see if has as many cringe moments as the TV movie Too Big To Fail. That was painful (and shit). Everything got explained along the way like the audience was retarded children.
-
Stewball
- Posts: 3009
- 2188 Ratings
- Your TCI: na
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 4:18 pm
Re: "The Big Short"--review
TheSean wrote:I'm interested to see if has as many cringe moments as the TV movie Too Big To Fail. That was painful (and shit). Everything got explained along the way like the audience was retarded children.
Yeah but when it comes to economics, I know from personal experience that retardation is of catastrophic proportions. People (such as I was), manage to understand the need to balance the family checkbook, but can't understand why ignoring that same necessity in government finance is simply raw corruption.