Dumb Money Movie Review

Over the past few years, there has been one filmmaker that has been making a splash in the obscure true stories sub-genre. Craig Gillespie has helmed 3 projects over the past 6 years that fall into the, “I can’t believe it's true” biopic sub-genre, directing ‘I, Tonya’, ‘Pam and Tommy’ and now ‘Dumb Money’. Gillespie’s sensibilities as a filmmaker have definitely changed over the years, but his ability to make us care about moments, that whilst received a lot of media attention, are somewhat obscure and things that people genuinely don’t care about, in the case of his latest film ‘Dumb Money’, we were all in lockdown, scared to death by the COVID-19 pandemic, so the GameStop, stock fiasco wasn’t at the forefront of our minds.

‘Dumb Money’, as mentioned, is based on the absurd true story of everyday people flipping the script on Wall Street and getting rich by turning GameStop (the American Video Game store franchise) into one of the world’s hottest companies. In the middle of the insanity is your average joe blow, Keith Gill played by Paul Dano. He invests his life savings into the stock and posts about it online, but little did he know at the time, his whole life would come crumbling down, as the Wall Street Billionaires fight back! Director Craig Gillespie has a knack for these types of films and he once again hits it out of the park with this one.

‘Dumb Money’ manages to be both funny, insightful, and engaging. As mentioned, this story was big around COVID-19 times, so it really wasn’t getting much attention, especially overseas here in Australia. The film does a great job of explaining the situation, without ever sacrificing some of the more complicated concepts and details. This is something Gillespie has done well with his other films and tv shows, particularly Pam and Tommy. He created the perfect 90s aesthetic, not just in the construction of a scene, but also helping the audience easily understand and identify the social and political climate of the time. Dumb Money does this as well, by highlighting  COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of crypto currencies and the sharing of financial advice through Reddit and other social media platforms.

Another strength here is the film's amazing ensemble cast. We have Paul Dano in the lead, but the supporting players here are incredible as well with the likes of Seth Rogen, Pete Davidson, America Ferrera, Vincent D’Onofrio, Nick Offerman, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Ramos, Shailene Woodley, Clancy Brown and Myha’la. The cast is amazing and adds a level of legitimacy to the story as well. When you have a cast like this, it asks you to really pay attention and engage with the story. Multiple times throughout the film, I had to keep reminding myself that this was in fact a true story, because honestly the way things escalate and the story truly don’t seem believable at times, but you’re reminded throughout and the cast adds to the legitimacy of the story.

Dumb Money was a big surprise for me, before I had seen the trailer, I was worried we were going to get a cheaper version of ‘The Big Short’, which also achieved a similar goal of blending comedy and a true story to great success. However, Dumb Money stands on its own, by re-telling an absurd true story, highlighting the financial climate in a very entertaining, but digestible way. If you’re unfamiliar with the true story like I was, then this is the perfect film to whet your appetite

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here