Starring: Ryan Gosling, Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Finn Wittrock
Directed By: Adam McKay
Running Time: 130 mins
BBFC Certificate: 15
UK Release Date: May 23rd 2016 (UK)

There’s an odd contradiction at the heart of The Big Short, as it’s a movie where the ‘heroes’ are people who managed to make out like bandits due to the world economy collapsing. Thankfully though the film knows that and is at pain to point out that while the main characters may have realised what was going on before anyone else, they’re also aware that while what they’re doing may be good for their investors, it’s also built on the back of the misery of a lot of normal people.

Based on real events, the ensemble film tells a trio of interwoven tales set during the run up to the economic meltdown of 2008. Christian Bale is Michael Burry, an eccentric hedge fund manager who realises that there’s something strange going on in the housing market, and that the financial instruments that it is now based on are a house of cards that have become increasingly corrupt and that it’s only a matter of time until the whole thing collapses. While these instruments are rising in value and billions are being made from them, Burry knows that many of the underlying loans they are based on are worthless. [Read more…]