That\u2019s all pre-title table-setting; Gillespie then hops back six months, to properly introduce us to the man at the center of this story, Keith Gill (Paul Dano). By day, he\u2019s an analyst for Mass Mutual, but he spends his free time tinkering with penny stocks and talking about them online (he\u2019s a \u201crecreational YouTuber,\u201d shudder). He refuses to buy in to the infallibility of the \u201creal\u201d investors and brokers; \u201cThey\u2019ve got all the advantages, and they still<\/em> get it wrong,\u201d he notes, not inaccurately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, via his Youtube videos and his presence on the \u201cWall Street Bets\u201d Reddit, he starts talking up the GameStop stock, which he believes is wildly undervalued. He doesn\u2019t exactly project financial acumen (\u201cI wouldn\u2019t take investment advice from a guy in a cat T-shirt,\u201d one observer notes), but his influence proves to be just as underestimated as the stock he\u2019s championing. \u201cRetail traders always lose,\u201d insists Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), whose company has shorted the stock. And that\u2019s usually the case. But not this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gillespie\u2019s direction is thankfully much closer to I, Tonya<\/em> than Cruella. <\/em>The still far-too-rare onscreen portrayal of life during COVID is welcome, and useful not only for historical purposes; the pandemic setting helps underscore the class warfare element of this story, putting into crisp images the contrast between how the rich and poor were living at that particular moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the downside, he\u2019s awfully reliant on wacky montages, and telling this story has the unfortunate side effect of engaging in and dramatizing the edgelord language and behavior so central to Reddit. And the picture has to work awfully hard twisting itself into something resembling a happy, crowd-pleaser, studio-picture ending. But those are mostly minor complaints; Dumb Money<\/em> is a genuinely compelling story, with a lot to root for, entertainingly told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Dumb Money” is out in New York and L.A. Friday, in limited release September 22, and wide release September 29.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/dumb-money2-1024x682.jpg\")
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The smart script\u2014by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, adapting Ben Mezrich\u2019s book The Antisocial Network\u2014<\/em>crosscuts between a selection of individual investors and interested parties; the construction is perhaps too schematic, but that rigidity occasionally pays off (as in Gill and Plotkin\u2019s back-to-back \u201chow much did we make\/lose today\/yesterday\u201d conversations with their spouses). And the casting choices are bullseyes throughout. This is like a role custom-built for Dano\u2019s offbeat charm and sometimes overwhelming intensity (I particularly dug the little montage of how he gets into character before going live online). Rogen seems to relish playing an unsympathetic character, and seizing on his sweaty desperation. Nick Offerman is a scream, offsetting the manic tone and loud volume by underplaying (even for him). As Keith\u2019s ne\u2019er-do-well brother, Pete Davidson skates in and scoops up scenes by the handful. And it\u2019s just a little corner of the movie, but Keith\u2019s relationship with his wife Caroline (a grounded Shailene Woodley) is awfully charming; the thoughtfully supportive spouse is always more interesting than the nagging one. <\/p>\n\n\n\nB<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n