The Big Short

Where I got the book

A friend :)

Why I’m reading

I basically put all of Berlin-Peck’s summer movies on my (extensive, 300+ entry) IMDB watch list -- but this one was the most interesting. We weren’t really in the mood for a comedy or a drama, and a documentary would’ve put us to sleep, so this was more or less perfect.

Expectations

A reenactment of the 2007-2008 housing/financial crisis, with a bunch of famous people, contextual humor, and some fourth-wall breaking to explain the problem in simple terms.

How was it

It was vaguely what I expected, with only a few differences -- the fourth-wall breaking wasn’t as obvious or gimmicky, it followed several separate groups of people who never really meet, and the explanation isn’t as simple as I thought it would be. Of course, that’s not to say I didn’t love the movie; it was fantastic… and the explanation couldn’t be simple. Apparently the crisis was not just irresponsibility, it was IRRESPONSIBLE CRAZYPANTS EVIL STUPID. The story follows several groups of people who saw the housing/financial crisis coming, and shorted the housing market (i.e. bet that the housing market would fail). Housing is traditionally very stable, so it seems like a stupid bet, but there’s tons of corruption happening and no one is doing their homework. But remember: these guys made money in the crisis, but they absolutely did not cause the crisis.

The main players (at least, the guys on the cover…) are:

• Michael Burry (Christian Bale) The nonconformist, brilliant, socially inept, ex-neurologist, metalhead founder of the hedge fund Scion Capital, and (one of) the first to predict the crisis. He goes all-in on sell credit default swaps (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap) against the housing market. My favorite character, although Carell had the better part and performance.
• Mark Baum (Steve Carell) Head of FrontPoint Partners, a small hedge fund that also shorted the housing market early on. Several of his team members actually go out and visit many of the towns and houses suspected of mortgage fraud. Although his anger management problems were a bit campy at the start, he’s the emotional center of this movie. Based on Steve Eisman.
• Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling) A trader who believes Burry’s prediction and tries to sell credit default swaps to hedge fund managers, including Baum -- he makes money on the fees. Acts as the narrator of the story. I found his role the most confusing, really; as far as I can tell, he’s helping himself (sales fees) and Baum (swaps sound stupid, but will actually be profitable) and hurting the bank he works for (which will eventually have to pay out for the swaps).
• Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt), with Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock) The latter two are young, small-time investors who jump on the bandwagon. Rickert lends a bit of Oceans 11 fun to the movie, using his experience and connections to let them follow through on their plans.

Recommendation

Anyone looking to understand the crisis -- and yeah, you do actually have to think, it’s not a topic that lends itself to simplification. Great if you’re not in a comedy mood but too tired for drama; it’s a little of both, but doesn’t yank on your heartstrings. Not good if you’re looking for a fun Ocean’s 11 style romp around Wall Street (that’s probably Wolf of Wall Street).

Feels

A little bit documentary, a little bit drama, a splash of Ocean’s 11 -- it’s exactly what every cool economics professor wants to be. It was never going to be a blockbuster, because it did its job too well to be a blockbuster.

Favorites

The renter we meet when Baum’s team goes mortgage fraud sightseeing. He’s fat, in his late 20s, poorly dressed, vaguely hispanic, tattooed, and sleepy -- the perfect stereotype of oh, of course this is the kind of person who caused the financial crisis. But no, no, no -- he’s been paying his rent on time and just settled his little girl in school; it’s his landlord who hasn’t been paying the mortgage. He was on screen less than a minute, and encapsulated exactly the kind of person who was blamed for, and most hurt by, the crisis. Also, the alligator was hilarious. Also, the few times a character turns to the screen and comments on a plot point (i.e. to say whether something dramatic actually happened or was added for drama).

Least favorites

The ending-before-the-ending, where they suggest everything worked out and the people responsible were punished -- just kidding, no one got punished, it’s still going on! They were trying to shock the audience, but I could practically feel the reward centers in my brain reacting as if there really was a happy ending. It was the end of the movie; audiences are already conditioned to expect a happy ending, and the movie gave them one -- it wrapped everything up nicely, and the ‘just kidding!’ had no more impact than a hand coming out of a grave at the end of a horror movie. If they really wanted shock, they should have left it on a dark note.