Heard great things from a couple people who have seen it already. 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.3/10 on IMDB.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus: "The Big Short approaches a serious, complicated subject with an impressive attention to detail – and manages to deliver a well-acted, scathingly funny indictment of its real-life villains in the bargain."
Who has seen it so far? Thoughts?
| +143 | How to stop feeling like shit for not making it in IB? | 55 | 1h | |
| +106 | If Tik Tok is forced to sell, what banks do you think would be involved in the deal? | 52 | 10m | |
| +66 | Updated LA Banking Scene (2024) | 49 | 11h | |
| +57 | Why Is It Called Investment Banking? | 20 | 32m | |
| +38 | Ranking banks that went under | 20 | 2s | |
| +32 | A strategy for SA applicants late to the game like myself | 15 | 4h | |
| +32 | Burnt Out M&A ASO | 17 | 1h | |
| +31 | UBS Actual Buyside Exits 2024 Post-Integration | 9 | 3d | |
| +29 | Relevance of A-Levels for U.K. London recruiting | 21 | 9h | |
| +26 | Series 79 Help / Tips to Pass The First Attempt | 11 | 1d |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Looking forward to seeing this!
lol, based on the cast, i think this is gonna be comedy movie of the year
Intend on seeing this when it's out in my area. Have seen good ratings on IMDb.
How have Lewis' other books translated to the big screen? I've only seen the Blind Side, which I did like.
I enjoyed the Blind Side a lot, though it understandably had to cut basically half of the book (the history of the evolution of NFL offenses).
I actually enjoyed Moneyball even more.
Can't wait to see it.
Really looking forward to it. Wish they would make Liar's Poker, though.
I saw it Thursday night. It is very much an angry comedy. It does a fantastic job of story-telling. They make concepts that are too complex for the average layperson pretty accessible (there's no attempt to skirt around the fact that derivatives exist, what they're titled, what those titles mean, and how they're created, packaged, and sold). The one disappointing piece was how much it pandered to the Main Street sentiment of 'wow banks are evil and finance is bad' ... it was certainly not an apolitical presentation of the crisis.
Very well-made, many genuinely laugh-worthy moments, but just like the Wolf of Wall Street, it isn't in the tier of the original Wall Street, American Psycho, Boiler Room, etc.
Just saw the movie today. Read the book ~2 years ago. Agree w/ APAE's review including the disappointment. It was "Oceans 11" + morality tale. They also trotted out the same, tired, old Wall Street culture meme of strippers. IMO "Margin Call" was a satisfactory Cliffs Notes version of Lehman's final days.
I've yet to the see the movie, but the morality/"blame it on Wall Street" part shouldn't be surprising. That view was made incredibly clear in the book.
I agree, but felt like it had more substance than Wall Street, American Psycho and Boiler Room in terms of financial concepts and explanation of how the Street actually works.
I actually thought it may have included too much jargon and the layperson will leave the theater being confused about a lot of stuff....although this does not take away from the good it does in explaining the issue to the layperson...it is just a complex situation to explain fully in 2 hours via a screen...
Overall, I thought it did a great job in mirroring the book, even though it is a bit too preachy on the whole "banks are evil idea" (the book is too preachy as well)
Just saw it as well. Overall, I thought it was very good. I half expected it to disappoint me like Wolf of Wall Street did, but I was pleasantly surprised.
+1
Was going to watch it last Saturday but it's not available in my area yet.
sadly it's available here across the ocean somewhere in February, based on the trailer can't say whether I think it's gonna be great or just ''OK''. Don't really like the way they make finance a joke and just the evil guy, although the point of the movie is to sell and more documentary-like wouldn't be that great of a success. But hey, Inside Job got an Oscar and it was a great watch - not gonna give up on my hopes!
I watched it with my wife who is a good proxy for a smart, educated, but not notably financially literate US citizen. She liked it a lot, understood it, and was shocked at how little she'd realized this was going on right under our noses 7-8 years ago.
I thought it was very entertaining, oversimplified (necessarily) in a few areas e.g. the CDO explanation, and unsurprisingly a little too slanted against the banks. Overall really well done though - it is HARD to make a movie about something like this.
I liked the movie. It is definitely worth watching fellow monkeys. Basically, I share the view of fryguy22 about the film.
This one is going to be absolutely epic! cant wait to see it
Saw it just a few hours ago and it was a pretty decent movie that most will enjoy. DickFuld I won't spoil the movie for you or others but I have to say that there were several jabs at Goldman I'm sure you would be entertained by. Hank Paulson is also mentioned in the very beginning and another part of the film. You were only on the movie at the end when they put a pissed off picture of you from your court hearings but they really didn't bash Lehman much at all. Mostly was MS, GS, & DB.
Compared to films such as Margin Call and Too Big to Fail, I thought The Big Short did a good to great job explaining/bringing to life for a wide audience what is essentially a dry subject. Not really a laugh out loud comedy despite how it was billed in the trailers-moreso amusing at how obnoxious (and clueless) most of the banks were about pricing, underwriting, packaging, and insuring this stuff, and how irrationally exuberant homebuyers and investors were in response (or vice-versa?). I thought the movie captured the zeitgeist during the run up to the meltdown especially well. No one was spared-regulators, homeflippers, bankers, predatory lenders, ratings agencies, Greenspan, etc.
Slim pickings but I consider it the best-or at least most consistently entertaining-movie of 2015.
2 For me. #1 has to be Straight Outta Compton.
I thought it was pretty good on the whole. They did a great job of explaining a lot of the concepts and terms so that the average person can all of a sudden become a MBS expert. I didn't like Steve Carell's acting, I don't remember Steve Eisman being that annoying in the book. The rest were fine. They did focus a lot on the 'big bad banks' a whole lot to cater to the current political environment I guess, but on the whole it was still a great watch. Good way to teach your grandparents about '08.
They had to focus on painting banks as the villains, that's what Michael Lewis did anyways and people don't want to watch a movie criticizing their share of the irresponsibility.
It's the same thing with Flash Boys, if you want to sell a book, tell people how someone else is responsible for their current position.
i just saw this movie after downloading it from torrents, thie movie is a complete waste of time...except when the blonde in a bathtub started to talk, my mind went to imagine stuff for a long period of time hehe
I thought it was fantastic. Absolutely loved it.
1. Sicario #2. Star Wars #3. The Big Short Margot Robbie was looking pretty fine in her cameo!
With you on Sicario. Fantastic film that I hope gets an Academy nom for its masterful cinematography.
Star Wars, not by a long shot. This was a cut-and-paste job of the script from Episode IV, just with a black dude playing the Han Solo role, a girl playing the Luke role, and a robot that rolls around fluidly instead of scooting around on legs. It was not adventurous at all (which is the whole premise of Lucas' Star Wars; yes, the prequels were disastrous, but the man gave us so much newness in each of the six films). It was the corporate, safe play that is ruining film and leading us to a box office of generic, cookie-cutter fodder like Iron Man 16, Captain America 8, Justice League 4, Fast and Furious 11, Men In Black 5, and a fourth reboot of Spiderman starring some actor we don't know yet who was born in 2008.
Revenant above Sicario.
Loved The Big Short because it was the opposite of my diatribe above.
Movie was OK, nothing to write home about. Did a really good job explaining the finance, but the movie itself was kinda boring. In my mind, you have a choice to make for these types of movies: wolf of Wall Street action packed, or PBS frontline documentary style. Trying to do both always turns out meh.
About The Big Short (Originally Posted: 05/07/2013)
I'm sure most people here have read or heard of this book. What do you guys think of it? Is it true that the Wall Street system is "rigged', like the author said and most people on the Street are just making money based on their connections and institutions instead of knowledge?
Duck
Like most things, the answer is yes and no.
If that is the impression you got by reading the Big Short, you may want to re-read it, more carefully this time. Lieppmann and Co. didn't make money based on connections alone, let alone the Berkeley upstarters.
That is very true, but most people, especially those traders who dealt with Mortgage Bonds themselves, did not see what was coming.
That is very true, but most people, especially those traders who dealt with Mortgage Bonds themselves, did not see what was coming. So how did they make money base on products they have no idea of?
90% of the world's hedge funds are located in CT or NY. You would have to assume that being close together in such a tight knit community would provide some advantage, but then again there are people like Michael Burry who made a fortune far away from the hustle and bustle of wall street.
John Paulson made an absolute killing by shorting sub-prime mortgage backed securities (reports are that he made 3.7bn personally). But if it wasn't for his analyst Paolo Pellegrini he would never have known to make "The Big Short". After his recent abysmal bets on gold, Sino Forest, BAC, and the fact that his flagship fund was more than halved in 2011, just shows that he's just a one hit wonder.
After the housing market went bust insurance companies like AIG were on the hook for selling the CDS contracts and would have gone defunct and unable to honor those contracts had the US government not stepped in with a cash infusion.
Gains are capitalized but losses are socialized. Guess who's on the hook? US Government = Tax Payers = You and I.
Michael Lewis is a great writer, but plays himself up as an in-the-know finance guru when he was just a junior bond salesman for a couple years in the 80s, so I would take what he says with a grain of salt.
The Big Short is good, but it's pretty watered down. "The Greatest Trade Ever" is more technical and dives further into Paulson, Burry, etc..
aren't most industries like this? how many fields are actually driven by "knowledge" alone?
This!
Connections and insider behaviour is prevalent in every industry, banking gets so much negative coverage over it because of the amount of money that stands to be made.
Just read the book yesterday, Lewis can write and knows how to engage readers to continue on and remain interested in the topic... but... it actually made me think the opposite of your assessment that there are even more inefficiencies which can be profited from if you take the time and do the work necessary to find them wherever they are.
One thing that makes me uncomfortable about The Big Short is it lacked the prospective from the losing side. Obviously if you bet against the majority of the market and made a huge profit you would like to brag about it, but what about those losers? Their opinions matter too and I didn't see it in the book.
I thought it was a great movie, but I think it may have been too much jargon to take in for the mainstream. One of the best movies of the year for sure but not the best. Madmax, Sicario and The Martian were the top 3 in my opinion.
Trailer for The Big Short (Originally Posted: 12/08/2015)
Mod Note (Andy): I'm posting this up again as the movie is coming out this Friday, can't wait!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vgqG3ITMv1Q
https://www.youtube.com/embed/LWr8hbUkG9s
hey, long time no speak! how you been?
Great buddy! Just thought you guys would want to see this ASAP. I don't know how to embed YouTube videos in the new system.
I don't mean to interrupt on your guys' conversation, but...
I actually wish this movie wasn't a comedy. Adam McKay is a solid comedy director, but I would've preferred to have JC Chandor (Margin Call, A Most Violent Year) direct a serious film.
Agree that someone like Chandor would have been a nice director for this, but I don't get the sense from the trailer that the movie is a laugh riot
Looks like it could suck. I prefer 'no-name' actors for stuff like this. Hope it's not a comedy - could be awesome. Interesting cast...
Looks like it will be entertaining to say the least. Looking forward to it.
Consequatur id quae fugit id quod mollitia et asperiores. Officia fuga et deleniti illum porro. Illo enim architecto ut. Sunt laudantium dolorum amet possimus voluptatem eum. Laborum ut possimus quis praesentium et illum. Non accusamus labore dignissimos at nostrum ex. Ullam voluptatum alias dolorem animi.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...
Mollitia tempore officia error corrupti. Et a aut voluptatibus non tempora cupiditate nobis. Nam aliquid accusamus iusto optio. Quo officia exercitationem consectetur dolores. Consequatur sunt quisquam quia fugit repellendus eos. Laudantium qui odit ratione ut.
Exercitationem occaecati aut iusto et qui iusto rerum. Repellendus voluptatem animi autem nesciunt enim. Repellendus ut ad ut a architecto libero quasi repellendus. Et ut voluptatem ab fuga dolore est perspiciatis. Sequi ipsam officiis aut dolorem ab totam. Et dolores et ipsam possimus ad distinctio dolorem doloribus. Ea ut possimus nihil iusto minus.
Culpa officiis aspernatur est quisquam ex qui dicta. Et corporis vel aut. Nisi sed sed repellat quis voluptate sint minima ab. Neque voluptatibus iure commodi corporis quam sit. Molestias quia veniam consequuntur in sequi.
Iusto dolores sed suscipit fuga. Quia voluptatem voluptatem tempore sint ut ipsam. Qui reprehenderit in quis sed.
Ut dolorum rerum aut totam expedita eos. Ut accusantium aut molestiae totam quis quia quisquam. Commodi officiis ipsam ea assumenda earum. Dolor sunt fugiat mollitia commodi.
Quo officia et sunt fuga earum autem. Molestiae autem quisquam nam minus quo repudiandae accusamus. Corporis ea vel fugit id maxime molestias rerum.