The important role that social media played in the GameStop story isn’t explored here so much as as a visual prop with montages of crude Reddit comments and news clippings from financial journalists. The real Wall Street characters, played by a constellation of stars, are introduced at the beginning in ascending order of wealth. Seth Rogen is hedge fund manager Gabe Plotkin.
As he wanders around his massive estate, text on the screen tells us that his net worth is $400 million. That’s impressive until we see he’s on the phone with Steven Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio), another $12 billion hedge fund manager. Then comes Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), whose investment company gives him a net worth of $16 billion. The more they have, the more they have to lose. These characters are all portrayed for comic effect rather than as mustache-twirling villains. The benevolent attitude of the film is that they may lose billions, but they will be fine.
At one point, Gill’s investment grew to $11 million, while Plotkin’s hedge fund lost several billion. GameStop shares fell back to earth after the trading app Robinhood, which so many retail investors had used, restricted trading in the stock to prevent a market crash. The US Congress has asked the actors in the entire incident to testify about their practices, and at the end of the film we see Dano, Rogen and Offerman in this Zoom testimony, interrupted by real members of Congress. During rehearsals for the hearing, Plotkin’s media consultants have to tell him that his extensive and expensive wine collection doesn’t provide the best visual backdrop. He seems confused. There are no real villains in this comedy of errors, just stupid and stupid money.
★★★☆☆
Dumb Money is released in the UK and US on September 22nd.
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