Mad Money and a Madder Investor

Jack O'Connell (left) and George Clooney in "Money Monster"
Photo Credit: Imdb.com 

The global financial crisis of the late 2000s is one of the most significant events so far this century, so it was a given that it was going to be the topic of several movies.  Over the years, we’ve gotten Charles Ferguson’s documentary “Inside Job” from 2010, J.C. Chandor’s drama “Margin Call” from 2011, and more recently, Adam McKay’s comedy “The Big Short,” all of which offer in-depth views of the most shattering economic event since the Great Depression.

While this crisis occurred several years ago, it’s still fascinating to see how we view Wall Street and the world economy all of this time later.  Now, actress Jodie Foster steps into the director’s chair for the financial thriller “Money Monster,” which, despite having a talented cast, never fully provides much of the intrigue and depth that a subject like this deserves.

In New York City, Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a television personality on a show called “Money Monster,” where he provides financial advice for his viewers.  During one of his broadcasts, investor Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) goes into the studio and takes Lee hostage.  Kyle reveals he lost his life savings after following a bad tip from the show, and he now wants to know what exactly happened to his money.  As Kyle forces the crew to continue filming, show director Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) tries to help Lee as he attempts to uncover what transpired in the economy that made his advice go horribly wrong.

While the acting is reliably good from George Clooney as the showy, Jim Cramer-like TV host and Julia Roberts as his dedicated director, there’s nothing much that’s interesting about them.  Clooney and Roberts do their best with the material they’re given; but, with their talents, they deserve roles that are better written than these.

Even though Jack O’Connell’s role is about as thinly written as those of Clooney and Roberts’, he’s at least given the chance to be a little more dynamic with his character because he gets to portray an unhinged and vengeful victim of the economy, and he’s easily one of the very few memorable aspects of the film.

The screenplay by Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf, and Jamie Linden presents an interesting idea, but it hardly goes deeper than its get-revenge-on-Wall-Street angle.  A film that deals with the inner workings of the financial world should be much more ambitious with the views it presents and have characters that we care about who become involved with the tense scenario.  If the movie was a little longer, than the writers may have been able to add more layers to the story.

While Jodie Foster’s direction is serviceable and able to wring a bit of suspense out of the film’s events, I would like to see what she can do when she has material for a better thriller with which to work, especially considering she has considerable experience with those types of movies.

After starring in such films as “The Silence of the Lambs,” “Inside Man,” and “Panic Room,” Foster knows her way around thrillers, and she now shows glimmers of potential in directing them.  If she can get her hands on a finer script, it would be a terrific opportunity for Foster to display her full filmmaking potential.

A movie such as “Money Monster” should make you furious at the dirty dealings of Wall Street.  But because the film is not fully committed to doing more with its premise, you just end up feeling indifferent towards what you watch, which is something that shouldn’t happen when a movie deals with a topic such as this.

Grade: C