Once upon a time there was an investor who liked a stock. It was a special stock for a company that looked, by all accounts, like it would be headed for the dumpster behind the third abandoned mall in your hometown. In fact, it seemed like some hedge fund types were trying to ensure that it failed so they could make bank off of it.
As you probably know, that’s not what happened.
Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money is the Big Short-ified version of the GameStop stock squeeze wherein Keith Gill (Paul Dano) made millions of dollars assuming that GameStop wouldn’t collapse entirely, and several hedge fund leads with billions under management lost a gobsmacking amount of money betting that a brick and mortar retail antique would shutter.
Based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich, the movie gives us both sides of the chaos — the slobs dropping their jaw when the numbers in their accounts start multiplying, and the snobs who need to get their lawyers on the phone PDQ. The trailer almost exclusively trades in that rushed insanity, and the subject matter is perfect for a filmmaker like Gillespie who thrives on presenting high-pressure absurdity driven by pompous idiots. The only slightly funky thing is how subdued Dano seems in the role in these brief moments given the happy-go-lucky vibe Keith Gill exuded.
Dumb Money, also starring Shailene Woodley, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, and Seth Rogen, hits theaters September 22nd.
Whatever you do, don’t turn off the buy button on this one.