On the money

The Big Short is a drama about the American financial collapse of 2008. It talks you through sub-prime mortgages, tranches, credit-default swaps, mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations …and, yes, I just bored myself to tears typing that list. I had to prop my eyes open with matchsticks typing that list. I would even propose that I was more bored typing that list than I’ve ever been in my whole life, which is saying something, as I saw Monuments Men. And, previously, I would have proposed that there is no way you could ever make any of the above fascinating or compelling or sexy, let alone scathingly funny. But The Big Short is fascinating, sexy, compelling and scathingly funny. It’s a miracle. It’s a lesson to The Revenant; a lesson that says: hey, dude, did you know that in the right hands a bear market can be more exciting than an actual bear? Did you?

It is directed and written by Adam McKay, who has made countless comedies with Will Ferrell (Anchorman, Talladega Nights, etc.) but that’s OK, because I have a fondness for Will Ferrell comedies, which are often more intelligent than they seem. This is an adaptation of the 2010 non-fiction book by Michael Lewis, which followed the handful of Wall Streeters who saw where the American economy was going, and heard the apocalyptic trumpets way before anyone else did. They’re the ones who spotted the sub-prime debt (look!; look how I’m familiar with all these words now!) and bet against the housing market — I think you’ll find this is known as ‘shorting’ — and they’re the ones who made a ton of money. They’re the winners. I suppose.