Dumb Money (2023)

Jack and I liked a lot this frantic fictionalization of the GameStop 2020 stock market phenomenon (more in a moment)--frantic because some of the action takes place online with busy, loud, multi-screen reactions. The big ensemble includes Paul Dano, well cast as determined financial analyst Keith Gill, as is Pete Davidson as his loose cannon brother Kevin. The hedge fund guys (the 1% we love to hate) include Seth Rogen (so good at acting so anxious), Vincent D'Onofrio, and Nick Offerman. Some of the "little guy" investors are Talia Ryder as a college student, America Ferrera as a nurse, and Anthony Ramos as a GameStop branch employee. My top ten are rounded out by Shailene Woodley and Olivia Thirlby as the supportive wives of Keith Gill and Rogen's character Steve Cohen.

Director Craig Gillespie keeps up the pace from the script by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, based on Ben Mezrich's 2021 book The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees. The action is firmly set during lockdown with most of the characters observing safe pandemic practices, though not all.

Here's a brief summary, though I am no expert. Correct me on any details by writing to babetteflix at gmail. GameStop, still in existence now, is a retail chain selling "consoles, collectibles, video games, and more." Just before the pandemic, people on Wall Street Bets, described by Stephen Colbert as "a popular, juvenile, foul-mouthed Reddit page," noticed that hedge funds were short selling GameStop, essentially betting (big) for the stock to fail. Those users, inspired by Keith Gill, launched a coordinated buying spree, which is called a short squeeze, and drove up the share price, costing those 1% guys a LOT. Here's a Wikipedia article with more detail.

I'm streaming Will Bates' soundtrack on Apple Music. There are some rap and other songs on that album as well. Here's a song list. After the movie Jack and I listened to the long version of White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, which plays over the credits.

More trivia. The real Ken Griffin, played by Offerman, spent a little of his enormous wealth on legal fees trying very hard to prevent this movie from being made. He even sued afterwards but couldn't stop it. Speaking of lawsuits, the Winklevoss twins Tyler and Cameron, whose case against Mark Zuckerberg over the creation of Facebook is depicted in The Social Network, are among the executive producers of this movie. And, lastly, The Social Network and this one are both based on books by Ben Mezrich.

Dano and Rogen were last blogged for The Fabelmans, Davidson for The King of Staten Island, D'Onofrio for Jurassic World, Offerman for Frances Ferguson, Ryder for Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Ferrera for Barbie, Ramos for In the Heights, Woodley for Ferrari, Thirlby for Being Flynn (though she was one of the many in Oppenheimer), Gillespie for Cruella, and Bates for Another Earth. This is the feature debut for Blum and Angelo, both of whom were staff writers for Orange Is the New Black.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are happy to spend some smart time on this, averaging 84 and 86%. We watched it on Netflix on March 20.