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Paul Dano based on the film Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, a relatively unknown personality on the Reddit channel wallstreetbets, who became big when he orchestrated a brief squeeze against GameStop. The simplest way to explain it is that the big hedge funds that make a fortune from the failure of companies, in essence betting that they will fall and profit from job losses and financial ruin. When Gill convinced his followers, mostly young people, to buy GameStop stock, it went up many times over from its initial low buy-in. Gill became a multi-millionaire on paper but held the stock, sending the billionaires into a tizzy, which led to a day-trading company called RobinHood colluding with a hedge fund owner to stop in stock trading. An open market relies on buying and selling, which means someone is cheating. This led to investigations by Congress, including the implications that Gill himself had insider knowledge, because how could someone from the sector of investors that the fat cats call “dumb money” they lost billions?
Work from the book by Ben Mezrich (who also wrote the non-fiction book adaptation of “The Social Network”), Blum and Angelo tell this story on a fairly broad canvas. In Boston, Gill, his wife Caroline (Shailene Woodley), and his brother Kevin (Pete Davidson), who couldn’t believe that his nerdy brother had this effect. They also promoted some investors, including a nurse named Jenny (America Ferrera), a GameStop clerk named Marcus (Anthony Ramos), and a pair of college kids named Harmony (Talia Ryder) and Riri (Myha’la Herrold). On the other sideline, Seth Rogen nails Gabe Plotkin’s spoiled idiocy, Vincent D’Onofrio sketches the eccentric Steve Cohen, Sebastian Stan bumbles through the arch of RobinHood head Vlad Tenev, and Nick Offerman shines the rather sinister Ken Griffin of cinematic existence.
It’s a great cast, and Gillespie handles them well, never letting anyone steal the focus of a hammy performance. These kinds of broad pieces often fail to coalesce into a single vision, and yet that’s not the case with “Dumb Money,” as Gillespie creates a strong supply of necessary information and character beats. But I can use more of the latter that sometimes “Dumb Money” lacks insight into the unique dynamics that bring this seismic financial shift to life. Yes, it’s not that movie, but there’s a version of “Dumb Money” that digs a little deeper, asking tougher questions about the forces of inequality and even how the pandemic affects the event—everything is there. at home watching clips of Roaring Kitty, and trying to regain some semblance of control in a chaotic world. And one wonders if there wouldn’t have been more outrage over the whole thing if the pandemic and other issues in 2020-21 hadn’t stolen the headlines.
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