Dumb Money (15)

In January 2021, prominent hedge funds face eye-watering losses when readers of online social network Reddit trigger a short squeeze of the stock of American video game retailer GameStop. Wall Street has been betting heavily against the high street business, expecting losses in the aftermath of the pandemic. Instead, an impassioned movement of individual investors respond to videos posted by Roaring Kitty (aka Keith Gill) and rally behind GameStop, creating a tidal wave of stock purchases.

LondonNet Film Review

Dumb Money (15) Film Review from LondonNet

In January 2021, prominent hedge funds faced eye-watering losses when avid readers of online social network Reddit triggered a short squeeze of the stock of American video game retailer GameStop. Wall Street had been betting heavily against the high street business, expecting losses in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic. Instead, an impassioned movement of individual investors – casually dismissed as “dumb money” by the big institutions – responded to videos posted by Roaring Kitty (aka Keith Gill) and rallied behind GameStop, creating a tidal wave of stock purchases that propelled the company’s value to more than 200 US dollars per share…

This bruising battle of hard-working Americans against cold-hearted financial goliaths informs director Craig Gillespie’s crowd-pleasing comedy drama, which bets heavily on our fascination with underdogs but ultimately yields lower returns than the Oscar-nominated dramatisation of The Big Short. Paul Dano instantly endears us to his self-professed nerd, who triggers a meltdown of financial markets with four simple words – “I like the stock” – and advocates transparency by publishing his balance sheets to prove he has been backing GameStop for months with his savings.

Keith’s wife Caroline (Shailene Woodley) supports her husband’s decision to wager their future on GameStop but others are not so enthusiastic. Nurse Jennifer Campbell (America Ferrera) considers answering Keith’s call to arms but one work colleague sounds the alarm bell: “I wouldn’t take investment advice from a guy in a catsuit!” Elsewhere, colleague student Riri (Myha’la Herrold) tries to reason with her girlfriend Harmony (Talia Ryder), who thinks she can clear her debts by buying into GameStop. “That sounds like the literal definition of a pyramid scheme,” dismays Riri.

Hard-working GameStop store clerk Marcus (Anthony Ramos) is persuaded by Keith’s logic and backs his employers. As the stock price climbs, hedge funds including Melvin Capital founded by Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) and Citadel founded by Kenneth C Griffin (Nick Offerman) face losses running into billions of US dollars. Commission-free broker-dealer Robinhood founded by Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota) controversially suspends purchases in GameStop, adding fuel to the inferno of public resentment towards Wall Street.

Dumb Money is consistently entertaining, championing the collective power of everyday people to punish callous and greedy institutions simply by sticking together. Pete Davidson injects broad comedy as Keith’s mischievous brother, a contact-free delivery driver who grazes on fast food orders before they reach customers’ front doors. Working from Ben Mezrich’s nonfiction book The Antisocial Network, screenwriters Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo minimise technical jargon so it’s easy to follow the GameStop saga to its inevitable conclusion. With every gamble, there are winners and losers. Gillespie’s polished picture is a safe bet.

– Kim Hu