Hollywood takes on the GFC - so the protagonists are people who made a pile of money out of it, by betting against the market. It's an irony the characters often comment on - the fact the heroes triumph mean that the world's economy crashed. But it is a fresher way of looking at the disaster.
There are three main groups - Steve Carrell and his gang, loosely associated with Ryan Gosling; Christian Bale and his gang; two guys and Brad Pitt. The villains are the bankers and inefficient government.
There's a lot of exposition - so much so you wonder if it couldn't have been dramatised better. I think the filmmakers fell in love with the conceit of having celebrities explain things when surely they could have been demonstrated via action. It's criticisms about the treatment of immigrants and poor people might have had more impact in a film that didn't fail the Bechdel test so badly (most female characters are strippers, and/or celebrities).
But it is a smart film and it treats its audience smartly. Bale and Carrell engage in a lot of Acting but after a while I got used to it, and the social anger and comment is insightful and pointed. Often very funny and also anger making, and further serves to highlight Adam Mackay as the leading political satirist of his generation.
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