Dumb Money (2023)
Craig Gillespie directs Dumb Money and tells the story of the GameStop short squeeze of 2021. The movie follows Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty, and a group of amateur investors who took on Wall Street and made millions by investing in GameStop. With a cast of characters that are expertly crafted, the movie deconstructs the GameStop short squeeze into terms even non-experts in the stock market might understand. The movie captures the online whisper network that builds a “meme stock” and the insidious influence of social media.
The ensemble cast of Dumb Money is outstanding, and director Craig Gillespie skilfully directs them so that no one overacts or takes centre stage. The movie has lively energy and a great performance by Paul Dano as Keith Gill, AKA Roaring Kitty. It also manages to successfully bring together a number of different supporting characters and parallel storylines. The movie, nevertheless, might have done a better job of developing the personalities and their goals.
Gillespie approaches the subject matter with the same cynicism and irony he showed in I, Tonya, his bizarrely humorous interpretation of the Tonya Harding affair. The lighting design of the movie and its attempts to create tension from close-ups of people staring at screens are evocative of David Fincher’s The Social Network. The score and cinematography are serviceable but not particularly memorable.
The editing of Dumb Money is solid, and the pacing is brisk. The majority of the film switches back and forth between the viewpoints of its characters in the second and third acts, gradually revealing to the audience how much each stands to gain and lose from GameStop’s skilfully orchestrated success. The dialogue is witty and engaging, but it lacks the depth and nuance that could have made the movie more compelling.
Dumb Money is a missed opportunity for a deeper exploration of the GameStop short squeeze. The movie has a fantastic cast and a lot of action, but it does not go into detail about the particular dynamics that made this dramatic change in the economy possible. In order to fully explore the forces of injustice and how the pandemic affected the event, the film should have gone deeper and raised more challenging queries. The film is entertaining enough, but it falls short of its potential. I would recommend Dumb Money to those who are interested in the GameStop short squeeze and want to see a dramatisation of the events. However, those looking for a more nuanced exploration of the topic may be disappointed.