This review is spoiler free.
“Dumb Money,” directed by veteran filmmaker and champion of the underdog Craig Gillespie (“I Tonya,” “Cruella”) offers a fast-paced, originative comedy dramatizing the GameStop short squeeze campaign of January 2021: an online effort led by social media personalities against ultra-wealthy hedge fund managers betting against the company. A battle between the passionate followers of amateur investor Keith Gill (Paul Dano), or Roaring Kitty on YouTube, and CEOs Kenneth Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), “Dumb Money” depicts the extraordinary endeavor as a neat and compelling David versus Goliath narrative, with the winner still to be determined.
Offerman takes obvious joy in playing “Disney villain” Griffin. He shines alongside Rogen in a satisfyingly disgusting portrayal of the 1%. Pete Davidson makes the most of his relatively small role as Kevin Gill, Keith’s transient and lovingly skeptical brother, seamlessly delivering one-liners and physical comedy in otherwise overly tense dramatic scenes. Sebastian Stan does his best to shoulder some of the comedic burden in his role as Vlad Tenev, co-CEO of the stock trading app Robinhood Markets, though at times falls into the trap of caricature. The campaign unfolds through the lens of four struggling investors: UT Austin students (Talia Ryder and Myha’la Herrold), a single-mom and nurse (America Ferrera) and an overworked GameStop employee (Anthony Ramos) as they struggle to balance their desire for payout and a mission to dismantle the wealthy CEOs’ market monopoly.
“Dumb Money” carefully walks the line between truth and fiction. A self-proclaimed “true story,” the film takes great pains to accurately represent pandemic culture. The overwhelming influence of platforms like TikTok and YouTube garner repeated mentions — Kevin Gill jokingly claims his work for Uber Eats makes him an essential worker and masks (or the lack of) form an intentional commentary on characters’ morals. UT Austin students might even recognize the Student Services Building as a COVID-19 testing center.
These hyperrealistic and period-accurate details bolster the film’s accuracy. However, while an emotionally compelling story on the American Dream and privilege in the early pandemic era, “Dumb Money” fails to portray the real-world consequences for many of those who lost thousands in their investments. In portraying the GameStop campaign not as an extraordinary cultural phenomenon, but as something to be easily replicated and encouraged for the casual investor, “Dumb Money” presents a dangerous argument. If claiming to tell a true story about the incredibly complex, volatile and largely luck-based market, “Dumb Money” should be wary of presenting a too-rosy view of the risk involved in willful investment.
An entertaining film with A-list actors that deliver both comedy and drama in a neat narrative, “Dumb Money” may yet hurt the very underdogs it claims to help.
3 kitties out of 5
