I just finished seeing The Big Short, and it was a great movie. It is probably the best role I have seen Steve Carrell perform. It focuses around the big Wall Street meltdown of 2007-2008. A few really smart people figured out what was going on and profited very well after jumping through some big hurdles. The story is told much like Deadpool where the characters break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. I personally like this type of movie. It also reminded me of Wolf of Wall Street, and even had a cameo from Margot Robbie, the hot chick that marries Leo DiCaprio.
The movie starts out low key, kind of explaining how banking became more interesting, when they let them become more creative with what they did to bank loans, such as packaging them. It then moves forward a few years and we are introduced to Michael Burry who is the genius that breaks down the numbers and notices that not everything labeled AAA is worthy of having the AAA label. He then figures it is just a matter of time and starts shorting all over Wall Street, to the tune of $1.3billion dollars. The aggressive group led by Steve Carrell stumbles into the game because someone dialed a wrong number. They follow up and end up profiting serious money. The third group to profit is two guys starting a business from their garage and they accidentally stumble on one of the reports done by the first guy, Burry, and they then go all in with the $30 million they have to invest.
There is a weird point in early 2007 when the market has all the signs it should be collapsing, but nobody is letting it happen. Curiously, this is when we bought our house, in May 2007. We were approved in 20 minutes for a $340,000 loan on a Sunday afternoon, with only a $500. At closing we even managed to get our $500 back. I don't know that we would have been able to get into such a big house if the rules weren't so lax. The market held on for another year, but we felt it in 2008, that's when we discovered what a furlough was. A furlough is when you work just enough to collect unemployment and still remain employed, it was all a tricky math, but it only lasted 3-4 months. I remember being told things would change and we would never have OT again and by the end of the year, I was back to normal working too much and never being home.
Anyways, back in the movie, the team led by Carrell head down to Florida and visit new communities and they see the reality. They discover people have been buying houses under their dogs names, strippers with multiple homes, the poor getting cheated. They follow this up with a trip to Vegas to a convention and discover just how inept and incompetent the experts really are.
In the end, there is a collapse, but the US government quickly steps in and rescues the banks. Although everyone who went along for the ride and shorted the housing market made out like bandits and got rich, they still were left with a dirty taste in their mouths knowing the US economy almost collapsed. It was so fast paced, I almost want to watch it again, but it is a 2 hour plus movie.
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