Dumb Money Review

Theatrical Movie Review - Comedy/Biography

Source: IMDb

I remember watching a YouTube video in 2021 about how some Reddit users were running up the price of GameStop stock and how it was financially devastating a few hedge fund guys in ways that I still don’t fully understand. I just thought it was kind of neat that for once, the financial system that I can’t grasp was working in favor of someone who wasn’t already fabulously wealthy. The story is fascinating, and its conclusion is infuriating, so I was anxious to see how Craig Gillespie would handle it in his biopic, “Dumb Money.” 

The movie follows Keith Gill (Paul Dano), a YouTuber and Redditor who talked about finances on the subreddit WallStreetBets. He believed that many on Wall Street were undervaluing GameStop’s stock and shared his position with those watching his streams. As more people tuned in and purchased the stock, the price continued to rise. Hedge fund managers like Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) were selling short, a process in which they borrow shares from people like Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio), and then immediately sell them, hoping to buy them back at a lower price. When the reddit community continued to buy shares, they drove the price high enough that these losses had a significant impact on the hedge fund managers. Eventually the financial app Robinhood stopped allowing retail traders, who are just ordinary folks, to buy GameStop shares, resulting in a federal investigation into everything that occurred. 

This movie is equal parts fascinating and confusing. If you’re like me and have only the most vague understanding of the inner workings of high finance, there is very little explanation given for what is happening. I found myself longing for a Margot Robbie bubble bath explanation of what was going on like “The Big Short.” Even without that, there is enough to understand that this was a time when the little guy had a chance to make the elites feel some pain.

The performances are all fun and energetic. Dano is a fantastic actor and he brings so much humanity to a character that might seem difficult to humanize. That is brought to clearer focus through his wife (Shailene Woodley), his parents (Clancy Brown and Kate Burton), and his brother (Pete Davidson). The vast supporting cast of redditors also help the story feel more accessible to the average audience member. Despite all of the jargon, the cast does a good job of giving us characters that we can relate to.

As I said at the top, this is a fascinating story with an infuriating end. What’s frustrating is that it’s less about the loathsome characters, and more about a system that refuses to treat corporate theft of billions of dollars as harshly as it treats an employee taking a twenty out of the till at McDonalds. But despite that, I won’t deny that it’s a fun time watching Seth Rogen sweat and imagining folks who steal from the poor to line their pockets doing the same.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on October 15, 2023.