Back in 2015, if you told me that you were going to make me watch a movie about the housing crisis, I would have accused you of trying to kill me with boredom.

But we got The Big Short that year, and it’s one of my favorite films because they took a topic that in its details very few of us could follow, and not only entertained us, but educated us using it’s all star cast and Adam McKay’s fourth wall breaking direction.

We get Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and a pre Succession Jeremy Strong, all cutting it up here, as financial players that are watching this speeding economic train coming to crush our housing market and trying to get rich off of the ignorance and arrogance, of the banks.

It’s all beautifully done. And when the storytelling has to educate us, they give us Margot Robbie sipping champagne in the bath, they give us Selena Gomez and the late great Anthony Bourdain in the kitchen with food metaphors. All done with McKay’s awesome ability to talk to his audience without crossing over into documentary territory.

When I watched this film for the first time, I couldn’t believe how much fun I was having. And we’re not dealing with a swimming pool of sharks here, there is some reflection of how devastating this was for many of those actually living it.

It’s my favorite Adam McKay movie. And pick any of those big names above this sentence, and it will probably be near the top of the list for those kings and queens as well.

Watch it.

The Big Short:

2015 Grade: A+

2024 Grade: A+

What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments.

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