When Jan & I went to see Money Monster, I was thrilled. I enjoyed the trailers, and am such a big fan of George Clooney and Julia Roberts, who together with Jack O’Connell star in the film. I was about a third of the way through the movie when I realized I was not going to love it.
Now don’t get me wrong. Alan DiFiore, Jamie Linden, and Jim Kouf’s script has truly fun moments throughout. The actors are fun and on occasion their characters are actually engaging. I loved the comic relief assistant producer provided by Dominc West, the honorable cop played by Giancarlo Exposito, and Caitrona Balfe’s honest assistant to the villain. That these are pretty stock characters is solidly compensated for by the quality of performances, they all breathe life into their parts. Among the standouts for me are the monologue by O’Connell’s character’s girl friend played by Emily Meade, and the scene stealing Lenny Venito.
As it turns out only fifty-five percent of one hundred, sixty-three professional reviewers counted at Rotten Tomatoes liked the film, not to my mind a great number. And there was a positive, but less than stellar sixty-two percent of nearly fourteen thousand non-professionals who were willing to go on line and recommend it. Not bad, but, one might reasonably expect something more considering who all is involved in the project.
I started reflecting on what went wrong? One review I looked at claims the problem was that principals in this movie are long-time faux liberal Democrats, their faux demonstrated adequately by their support Hillary Clinton, while the Big Short, released some six months ago, was made by a true progressive and supporter of Bernie Sanders, evidenced by his support of, well, Bernie Sanders. And, I guess, we are to infer that this establishes that Money Monster, of course, is going to fall short of ripping the mask off Wall Street.
I suspect the problem is a bit simpler, but it does have to do with the Big Short. That movie was devastating and brilliant and darkly hilarious and even with six months separating them, Money Monster was still released too close to not invite comparisons to this light-weight suspenser/melodrama. Here we are, after all, very much still in the wake of the Great Recession, mired in a messy and frightening time where the shortcomings of capitalism, and particularly when the markets and their easy manipulation even within the bounds of the law are present and ugly. Money Monster is a film that plays against that harsh background, and while it does make an occasional sly nod to the deeper problems, is nonetheless basically just a caper flick. And the bottom line is it is too lightweight given the moment. I think.
That said, it was a pleasant hour and a half. Fun, except of course for Jack McConnell’s character (who my spouse points out does a credible Boston accent, although he’s supposed to be playing a working class New Yorker), the principal presentation of the tragic themes hinted at but not explored. There were even some great moments. And, as I’ve said, who doesn’t like George Clooney or Julia Roberts?
For the jokes and the humor, particularly the occasional dark flash. Three stars.
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