Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (December 14, 2023)
Back during the prime “shutdown” period of the COVID pandemic, amateur investors roiled the stock market via a quirky pursuit. 2023’s Dumb Money explores this story.
Boston area resident Keith Gill (Paul Dano) works as a financial analyst and also posts advice via video streams on Internet sites. In summer 2020, he feels the market undervalues the stock for retail chain Game Stop and sinks a large wad of his family’s savings into it.
This creates a ripple effect as he inspires other amateur investors to do the same and Game Stop stock shoots up in value. Wealthy professionals react negatively to this “uprising” and do their best to quash it.
It seems appropriate that Keith and his acolytes use the “Robinhood” stocktrading site given that their efforts result in the redistribution of money from the rich to the poor. No, they don’t steal, but ala Robin Hood, they do impact the financial status of the wealthy.
Clearly cast as an underdog story, Money makes both sides seem fairly simple. Keith and his followers all seem honest and likeable, while the “fat cats” come across as conniving, greedy and selfish.
This means the movie lacks a lot of nuance, and part of the issue comes from the enormous array of characters Money throws at us. Rather than just concentrate on Keith and hedge fund titan Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) – the main tycoon featured here – we get a wide variety of additional participants.
In addition to the families of Keith and Gabe, we meet various investors who follow Keith’s advice as well as other bigwigs and the men behind Robinhood. To some degree, I get the need to expand the film’s universe to these other roles.
The problems stem from the extent to which Money covers the parts. Despite his place at the narrative’s core, Keith often feels like just one of the ensemble, and that makes the movie spread too thin.
Again, I think a better-constructed version of Money spends much more time with Keith than the film does, and it more concretely sets up Gabe as our primary antagonist. While those notions exist here, the manner in which Money spreads its running time among the many others in the cast just waters down its impact.
We simply never get to know anyone beyond superficial qualities. This most negatively impacts Keith since he exists at the center of the story.
Beyond basics, we don’t know much about Keith. Rather than use the movie’s running time to flesh out his world, we go to all the others on a regular basis, and this tendency creates a vacuum in the tale.
In the film’s defense, I do acknowledge that this structure ensures Money moves at a brisk pace. It proceeds in a way that means we never lose interest in it.
And Money also delivers a tense work – especially if you don’t know a whole lot about the true events it depicts. I maintained awareness of the whole early 2021 Game Stop stock phenomenon but remained unaware of Keith or any of the movie’s real-life players.
Even if I knew what actually happened to Keith, Gabe and the rest, Money offers fictional characters as Keith’s followers. As such, their stories offer drama that keeps those with better awareness of the facts involved.
In that sense, I get the choice to expand the film to such a wide array of supporting parts. However, I suspect the average moviegoer never even heard of Keith Gill or Gabe Plotkin, so the flick still would’ve delivered ample tension even without the made-up folks.
Anyway, as much as I think Money spreads itself too thin, it does ensure we stick with it, and the ensemble comes with a pretty strong roster of actors. In addition to Dano and Rogen, we find Shailene Woodley, Pete Davidson, Sebastian Stan, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Vincent D’Onofrio, Clancy Brown and many others.
All do well in their parts. Many don’t get a ton of screen time, but they make the most of their moments.
Ultimately, I think Dumb Money provides a rousing tale but not one that lacks flaws. While I enjoyed my time with it, I wish it came with a tighter focus.
