An occasionally intense, fairly engaging and ultimately
disposable hostage thriller, Money Monster goes out of its way to avoid the
heady, deep-end-of-the-pool intricacies its trailer or poster or casting might
imply… It’s a solid enough film, but
could never swim in waters churned by the likes of, say, Wall Street, Network,
The Big Short or Margin Call (to name a few).
At a briskly efficient 98 minutes, it’s a surface level examination of
corporate fraud, stock market analytics, algorithmic nuances, greed, glitches
and just how easy it is for some to screw over the hopelessly optimistic and
haplessly desperate, bull-market-craving masses. There’s no triteness to this slimmed down
approach, but the rat-tat-tat of cable TV media production and consumption
plays a large, more important role here – and that’s where Clooney, Roberts and
O’Connell shine – adding pleasant doses of humanity and humor to the
proceedings. Acting, direction and
dialogue may all be on point – but the journey and overall message aren’t
breaking any new ground. Money Monster
may show us a great deal of things we’ve seen before, but it still remains a
timely, breezy and lightly entertaining thing to watch in a dark room while
shoving popcorn in your face. It also
makes a decent respite for those looking to shield themselves from the
blockbuster boys of summer.
Starring: George
Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O’Connell
Directed by: Jodie Foster (The Beaver, Home for the Holidays
and Little Man Tate)
Rated: R
Running time: 1hr. 30min.
Story:
Lee Gates is a bombastic TV personality whose popular financial network show has
made him the money wiz of Wall Street. But after he hawks a high tech stock
that mysteriously crashes, an irate investor takes Gates, his crew, and his ace
producer Patty Fenn hostage live on air. Unfolding in real time, Gates and Fenn
must find a way to keep themselves alive while simultaneously uncovering the
truth behind a tangle of big money lies.
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