Storyline
In the real-time, high stakes thriller Money Monster, George Clooney and
Julia Roberts star as financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer
Patty, who are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor who
has lost everything (Jack O'Connell) forcefully takes over their studio.
During a tense standoff broadcast to millions on live TV, Lee and Patty
must work furiously against the clock to unravel the mystery behind a
conspiracy at the heart of today's fast-paced, high-tech global markets.
Review
There
are a couple of things to note right up front about Money Monster, the
first film directed by Jodie Foster in quite some time and reuniting
Clooney and Roberts (remember them from the Ocean's Eleven flicks? or,
you know, the two they were in together? good times) - first, I think
it's important that if you do decide to go see this movie, see it in a
theater (I'd say a matinée price works best, maybe not quite full
price). It's the kind of movie that Lynda Obst has outlined in her book
'Sleepless in Hollywood' as being as something of an endangered species:
the middle budget Hollywood genre movie with some big name stars and a
plot that's appealing to a mass audience (so it's not quite an "indie"
movie, but it's not something that crosses 100 million with elaborate
special effects).
Though these movies became a bit tiring (or
more than a bit depending on who you are) by the early 00's, in the
landscape where there's either comic book movies (Marvel, DC, etc) or
comic book movies in look and tone as franchises (Fast & Furious,
Hunger Games, etc), a story like this where a guy holds a Jim Kramer
type of cable 'news' personality and his crew hostage on live TV seems
almost refreshing, at least as far as being something that's only
pretense is that, you know, the economy collapsed not too long ago and
confidence in things like the stock market should suck (though it seemed
to have rebounded not too soon after 2008), and it's made
professionally.
The other thing to note here is that just because
it's a highly entertaining dramatic thriller as far as the
nuts-and-bolts of such a thing are put together - the actors are just
right, with Roberts being the anchor for things to not get out of
control as the director of the show, and even small players like Dominic
West as the CEO of the company that (seemingly) screwed over Jack
O'Connell's gun-and-bomb toting show hijacker, and Clooney's Clooney so
that's good - it doesn't meant there aren't flaws.
You've seen
this before if you've seen, I don't know, Dog Day Afternoon or John Q
(the latter's lessor than this but you may get an idea, the "Just
hostage-taker" scenario), and even Inside Man, which featured Foster in a
supporting role. Things to do with logic like the amount of security
that should/would be in an area where a major cable show is being
produced, or how the whole last third unfolds (and if you've seen the
trailer, and it's hard to avoid it if you've been to the movies in the
past few months, it shows you this section in pieces so you anticipate
it) is implausible.
But there's a lot of good drama to mine here,
and buried underneath its quick and fast-paced plot mechanics it does
have something to say about not just how the American people continually
get duped into things like going for stocks (or at least the ones who
can afford it or try to like O'Connell's working class character), but
the power of celebrity. There's a wonderful little scene where Clooney's
Lee Gates tries to dissuade this bomb-that's-going-to-go-off scenario
by talking to the tens of millions (I should think more, depending on
who has cable around the world, but I digress) and appeals to them to
contribute money so that the stock can bulk up for the company that
screwed over O'Connell's character. It's the kind of performance where
it feels like a performance, but in a good way: it's self-knowing and
Clooney plays up to it, and when the outcome of this happens (and it's
not pleasant) the emphasis on this whole 'image' that Lee Gates has
perpetuated comes back to bite him in the ass.
So there's a lot
of little sections that work and good character actors sprinkled
throughout (Esposito, Jim Warden, John Ventimiglia), and it all boosts
up what is fairly conventional and yet everything is there for the drama
of this type of movie. Its even funny, in a bleak, sardonic sort of
way, in a few moments (and one that's kind of weak, let's say it
involves a sort of cream for your area that's, oh nevermind). I wish it
was a little more strong with certain story details, but it's comforting
in a way even as character yell and curse and stand-offs happen and
rise and fall. Put it another way, if you want a less 'cluttered' take
on stock fraud than The Big Short, look here, and if you want to spend
some time away and to watch something with a few good Hollywood
superstars, it's good on that end.
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Synopsis
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