‘DUMB MONEY’ Review: Craig Gillespie Offers A Dumb Dramatization of the GameStop Scandal

Courtney Howard // Film Critic

DUMB MONEY

Rated R, 1 hour and 44 minutes

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Starring: Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Seth Rogen, Vincent D’Onofrio, Nick Offerman, Sebastian Stan, Rushi Kota, America Ferrera, Myha’la Herrold, Talia Ryder, Anthony Ramos, Dane DeHaan, Shailene Woodley, Olivia Thirlby

Director Craig Gillespie is no stranger to capturing true life events with an attuned eye and ear toward a story’s compelling stakes and rootable, interesting characters. THE FINEST HOURS, MILLION DOLLAR ARM and I, TONYA are all exceptional examples of his signature style. He even made what’s considered to be one of the best live-action Disney adaptations with CRUELLA. Yet DUMB MONEY, his latest ripped-from-the-headlines fictionalization, adapted from the book “The AntiSocial Network,” feels like a disappointing failure on all levels.

Caught at the intersection between Adam McKay’s THE BIG SHORT and David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK (not only employing Fincher’s longtime collaborator, editor Kirk Baxter, but also the real Winklevoss Twins, who serve as producers), Gillespie’s glossy dramedy chronicling the GameStop stock scandal plays like a passionless, ham-handed dramatization with an underutilized ensemble in tow. It’s a dumbed-down, superficial retelling of game-changing history.

Gillespie and adapting screenwriters Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo start by introducing their sprawling cast of characters with title cards announcing each one’s name and net worth – one of the film’s smarter ideas. We’re able to grasp the story from all sides, from the Wall Street hedge fund capitalists like Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), to the casual investors like financially struggling nurse Jenny (America Ferrera), GameStop retail employee Marcus (Anthony Ramos) and college students/ queer couple Riri (Myha’la Herrold) and Harmony (Talia Ryder). There’s also Eurotrashy Silicon Valley tech bros Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota), whose Robinhood app helped normal folks get in the game with stock trading. And sandwiched in between them all is mild-mannered financial analyst/ amateur YouTuber Keith Gill (Paul Dano), his wife Caroline (Shailene Woodley) and his obnoxious slacker brother Kevin (Pete Davidson).

This saga began when, on Keith’s show broadcasting as his alt-persona Roaring Kitty, he recommended GameStop as a promising stock option to buy, based on his belief it was undervalued. However, once a bunch of average folks bought into this dream, investing their own hard-earned money that then snowballed over a few months’ time, hedge funders’ normal ways of scheming exploded, causing chaos and mayhem for everyone. Layered within the real-life facts are fictional arcs that are left either unexplored, or dealt short shrift. We never truly care about any of these characters. Not much feels sincere. Jenny’s journey is wholly predictable, as are the arcs of every real life figure involved in this incident. Marcus, Riri and Harmony’s fates also amount to a huge nothingburger of a climax. As for the trio of supposedly detestable capitalist pigs (one of whom owns a literal pig to drive that metaphor home), their portrayal is too soft – not nearly as cartoony nor coldly calculating as they should’ve been drawn.

While Gillespie blessedly holds back from his usual copious needle-drops, what’s there doesn’t impress. It contains a soundtrack primarily featuring rap songs all about being glossy, flossy and bossy that hit the same tonal note when frequently married to the slo-mo visuals. Will Bates’ score is clearly meant to emulate Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor’s synthy compositions, but comes across as a manufactured clone instead. Cinematographer Nicolas Karakatsanis’ color palette also evokes a Fincher-ian inspiration, yet doesn’t commit to its steely gleam.

There are virtually no standouts in terms of performance. Everyone gets lost, drowned out by the noise of the straight-forward narrative that doesn’t allow them to have any moments of earned emotional resonance. The cast of extremely talented actors are nothing more than meat puppets. Ramos’ greatest contribution is doing the Megan Thee Stallion TikTok dance in an early scene. Women are woefully underwritten and the actresses’ work lacks in appeal and memorability because of it. Jenny, Riri and Harmony are pawns on a chessboard, moved around solely to advance the story. Caroline’s name isn’t stated until late in the film and she barely exercises her own autonomy outside of her husband’s arc. Worse, Olivia Thirlby, playing Gabe Plotkin’s wife Yaara, doesn’t even have her character’s name mentioned at all. You have to search the end credits for that.

Nevertheless, the lone thing this film gets right is showing the differentials between the two disparate worlds of the upper and lower class, in both the dialogue and Scott Kuzio’s production design. The wealthy converse over acquisitions, possessions and other monetary goods, forgetting to value humanity. The working man, in contrast, strives for human connection in a lost society. Jenny chats with a stranger, from 6 feet away, at a gas pump in the quiet of winter. Marcos connects with customers on a personal level, but his joy is quickly negated by his boss (Dane DeHaan) pushing corporate programs. Still, the story and its pandemic setting suffer from an all-too-recent quality that lacks deepened introspection.

Grade: D+

DUMB MONEY opens in theaters on September 29.