When making a film about a delicate subject that had a massive effect on so many people’s lives, you have to approach it with great care. To then go and make this into a buoyant comedy, is an even greater test on the directors ability. Here we have a film based on the 2010 book 'The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine’, written by Michael Lewis, about the Financial crash of 08 and this massive task fell to director Adam McKay.
Written by Elliot Lines
The main challenge for a movie like this is to get the story across to the audience without losing them. With such a difficult subject to play with it had to be explained in the right manner, this was done throughout the movie using different techniques. We become accustomed to the occasional breaking the 4th wall (speaking to the audience) cut aways to explain events that are going on in the movie. We also have celebrities, most notably Margot Robbie in a bathtub, that express the financial world through relatable metaphors within the real world. This really helps the audience understand the movie, and adds a lot of depth to the script in the process.
A star studded cast for this film, we are assured to get a good showing, and we definitely got that. Steve Carell was a standout, the slight hints of the ‘Michael Scott’ character from “The Office” were seen in his performance, but definitely a more straight version. Christian Bale played a socially inept, quirky character that prefers to work with numbers rather than people, Bale is perfect within this role and portrays it spectacularly. Other notable mentions have to go to Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt, who with limited screen time got across their characters personalities really well.
This film managed to deliver a serious subject with great attention to detail. Due to the way in which this was made it is thought provoking and easy to follow. Yes it probably takes a couple of viewings to absorb all the information, but Adam McKay has successfully made a lighter look into this with some comedic moments and just good all round film-making.
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