'The Big Short' - Movie Review

"The Big Short" is a surprisingly interesting movie about the collapse of the housing market in 2008, with several of the characters based on real people who shorted the housing market. It's based on a non-fiction book of the same name: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewis (2010). Not something most people would consider a compelling subject for a big budget movie, but McKay makes it quite watchable. That said, my level of enthusiasm doesn't quite reach that of the critics and friends who recommended it: I liked it and enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was quite as brilliant as most people seemed to think. My divergence may have to do with every single character in the movie being slightly over-the-top. I'm kind of torn on this one because I suspect they're not incorrect in their portrayals: people crazy enough to short the housing market in 2006 and 2007 would have to be a little bit "out there," they were going against every other stock broker and trader in the world. The fourth wall breaks by several actors were entertaining, but contributed to the feeling that this was a weird hybrid between a comedy, a documentary, and a drama rather than a "real" drama. This disconnect shouldn't be a problem for most people, and, as mentioned, it's a fairly good movie.