Dumb Money movie review

MOVIE TITLE: Dumb Money

This dramedy based on a true story is now playing in theaters.

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 45 minutes

MOVIE REVIEW MOM GRADE: B+

IN A NUTSHELL:

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 (the video game company) into the world’s hottest company for a time during the pandemic.

The film was directed by Craig Gillespie. Writing credits go to Lauren Schuker Blum, Rebecca Angelo, and Ben Mezrich.

THINGS I LIKED:

The lineup of actors is fantastic and includes Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Seth Rogen, Talia Ryder, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, Myha’la Herrold, Clancy Brown, and so many more. They created quirky, fun characters, and all did an outstanding job.
Remember the Winklevoss twins in the movie The Social Network? They’re two of the executive producers for this movie. They got into a legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg, which was written about in the book “The Accidental Billionaires” written by Ben Mezrich. Ben Mezrich also wrote the book “The Antisocial Network”, which is what inspired this movie.
I thought it was funny that the waitress knew about stocks and investing.
Who doesn’t love a good underdog movie, especially when people who are struggling in the economy can stick it to the “Man”?
The movie does a great job illustrating the nuances of living in a pandemic.
Even if you don’t completely understand the investment world, you’ll still enjoy the story that shows the “little guy” beating out supposedly smarter Wall Street experts.
Thanks to a real-life video clip by Steven Colbert, the film explains what a short sale or short squeeze is.
There is a lot of spoken and visual humor.
We get to see video clips of the real people involved in these events at the end of the movie

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

The real Ken Griffin is entrenched in a lawsuit over how his character has been portrayed by Nick Offerman in the film.
There are so many characters to try to keep track of.
Some viewers have complained that this movie has come out too soon. Do you agree?
I spent a lot of money buying video games for my 4 sons over the years. Too bad I didn’t invest during this unprecedented rise!
Boomers might be annoyed by all of the raunchy Millennials.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

Kids will be completely bored hearing about stocks. More importantly, the dialogue and the lyrics to the soundtrack are filthy and profane. We also see a lot of crude images and gestures.
SO many F-bombs.
A young kid flips the bird.
Lesbians are shown kissing and saying crude things.
Some Spanish is spoken with subtitles.
We see two naked men from behind.

THEMES:

Money
Power
Investing
Community
Social media
Hope
Class warfare
Government intervention

FUNNY LINES:

“I wouldn’t take investment advice from a guy in a cat t-shirt.” – Chris (Larry Owens)

INTERESTING LINES:

“You never bet against Wall Street.” – Briggsy (Deniz Akdeniz)
“You are now witnessing the French Revolution of finance.” – TV reporter
“As for me, I like the stock.” – Keith Gill (Paul Dano)
“Wall Street will never be able to ignore the ‘dumb money’ again.” – message on the screen at the end of the movie.