Starring Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Pete Davidson, Dumb Money follows the true story of Keith Gill, a mild-mannered financial analyst whose world turns upside down after he invests in a seemingly hopeless penny stock—GameStop—that undergoes a sudden and extreme valuation spike. Gill finds himself the unlikely face of a Reddit-led charge to short squeeze the GameStop stock in the hopes of making everyday investors rich, a position which puts him squarely in the sights of hedge fund managers Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onforio), Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), and Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen). A sudden folk hero, Gill becomes the central figure of a high-stakes money game that puts not only his and his wife’s (Shailene Woodley) finances on the line but also gambles the finances of his loyal YouTube subscribers, like Jennifer (America Ferrera), Marcos (Anthony Ramos), and Riri (Myha’la Herrold).
For most viewers, the appeal of Dumb Money isn’t just the David vs. Goliath financial story but the sheer recency of the film’s true events—the GameStop short squeeze happened just two years ago, back in January 2021. The recency of the story makes for a very surreal, visceral viewing experience—most viewers will likely remember seeing firsthand news reports about the sudden jump in GameStop’s value or having watched TikToks about why investing in GameStop was a stroke of genius that would help stick it to the man. Certainly, one wonders if it’s ill-advised to release a film about actual people and events so quickly after the real-life incident, and the sheer speed which with the film was developed does show where it counts most —the script.
Undoubtedly, Keith Gill’s story is a remarkable one that translates incredibly well to the screen—it is an epic tale of “taking down the big guy” through sheer grit and force of class solidarity. There’s a sweeping, idealistic Americana sort of energy to Gill’s unlikely story that makes the whole affair very cinematic, but Lauren Shucker Blum and Rebecca Angelo’s script takes this through line and dials it up to an eleven, with a heavy-handed script that romanticizes the proceedings as an epic victory in the history of American class warfare. Complete with saccharine ending title cards that proclaim Gill and the Redditors’ crusade as an epic shot across the bow of the rich and powerful, Dumb Money is a little too caught up in ensuring the audience knows how much Gil’s story epitomizes the power of the “little guy”.
Still, as eye-roll inducing as the script can sometimes be, Dumb Money retains an infectious, joyful, “fight the power” sort of energy, which uses modern rap songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” (a track which viscerally reinforces the 2021 setting for viewers who were on TikTok at the time) as anthems for the unexpected power of the everyman joining forces. Though, funnily enough, the version of “Savage” used in the film isn’t actually Megan’s version but a cover—a small but noticeable detail for fans of the Houston rapper that makes the song’s frequent invocation less effective. Still, there’s an in-your-face audacity to opening your film with a bunch of portly hedge fund managers panicking over their finances while “WAP” blares and that sense of humor injects an electric momentum to the film that helps soothe the inelegance of the script.
A fair share of the comedic heavy lifting is done by the film’s cast (an all-star bunch if ever there was one), who elevate the material through sheer force of charisma. Rogen takes a comedic backseat as the slimy, spineless, sad sap of the investor trio, while Nick Offerman and his stern brow make for a deliciously smug antagonist whose downfall the film encourages the audience to revel in. Pete Davidson also stars as Kevin, Keith’s pot-smoking brother, who struggles to hold down a job but is always around for a quip at Keith’s expense. The family unit of Keith, Kevin, and their hyper-Bostonian parents Elaine and Steve (Kate Burton and Clancy Brown) makes for an equally funny and endearing heart of the film, and though the sincerity of Shailene Woodley’s performance at times makes it feel like she’s in a different movie, it’s still a solid foundation for this otherwise unrepentantly silly film.
But baked into the identity of the true GameStop story is the presence of Reddit, so “unrepentantly silly” is inherent—after all, the way the film presents things, GameStop’s sudden surge was as much a Reddit meme/long-game joke as it was a grassroots bid by Gill and other at-home investors hoping to strike it rich off an unlikely stock. Interspersed throughout Gill’s gradual rise to millionaire status are montages of upvotes, reaction videos, and screenshots of Gill edited as some sort of internet troll messiah—certainly an accurate depiction of the type of humor that populates the site, but at times one that’s overused, and becomes especially grating when used for marketing purposes.
As juvenile as the combination of Pete Davidson + Seth Rogen + Reddit-based humor can be, though, it’s a fitting dynamic for a film whose equivalent of a superhero costume is a red Karate headband, aviators, and a graphic tee (preferably featuring cats). Dano’s Gill borders the line of self-awareness and sincerity, both in regards to his sudden fame, his intentions behind the short squeeze (the Congressional hearing prompted by the stock surge is a key centerpiece of the third act), and though there’s something slightly off-putting about his nervous smile and propensity for chicken tenders, it feels honest to the nature of the real-life story.
All things considered, Dumb Money feels like a story destined for the screen, though the speed with which it made it to theatres may have hindered it from being the fully realized financial comedy/period piece it could’ve been. As the title of the novel the film is based on (The Unsocial Network) implies, there’s certainly a very cerebral, sharply scripted version of this film somewhere else in the universe. But the Dumb Money we got is serviceably funny and narratively competent if nothing else—a scrappy production that chronicles a bizarre quirk of recent history.
(featured image: Sony Pictures Releasing)
Published: Sep 26, 2023 06:50 am