‘Dumb Money’ Makes GameStop Stock Scandal Relatable
Somehow 2021 feels like it was both yesterday and a century ago. In the post-pandemic world, time has lost all meaning and we remember events, but not exactly when those events happened. In addition to political turmoil and social unrest, you might also remember the GameStop stock news that had the entire internet Googling “What’s a short squeeze?” Dumb Money is the story of that event.
Paul Dano is Keith Gill, an average guy who becomes an internet legend by sinking his savings into GameStop stock and kicking off a movement that shakes up the entire financial world. We see the story from the perspective of Gill and his wife Caroline (Shailene Woodley) as well as average Joe investors like nurse Jenny (America Ferrera), college students Harmony (Talia Ryder) and Riri (Myha’la Herrold), and GameStop employee Marcus (Anthony Ramos) representing the general public.
On the flip side, we see obscenely wealthy investors like Melvin Capital founder Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) and his buddies Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio), and Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), who seek to exploit the market and cash in on failing businesses. Plotkin, in particular, is a perfect antagonist for this story as we meet him while he’s angry about a real estate deal to purchase and raze a mansion so his family can have a private tennis court to play on during the pandemic.
Lumped in with these big-money guys are Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota), the founders of the RobinHood app on which so many regular folks make their trades. Like Plotkin, their intros tell us all we need to know as they conduct an interview spouting the usual Silicon Valley nonsense about changing the world before getting into their matching Teslas.
Dumb Money utilizes this shorthand storytelling, which keeps its runtime at a brisk 105 minutes. The rich guys are greedy and bad, the average people are honest and good, David vs. Goliath, let’s band together and topple inequities in society. Occasionally it can feel a little too streamlined and simplified. For example, there was another rather significant news event that happened in January 2021 but it’s never mentioned. The reality of the story was certainly not as clear-cut as it seems here, but much of that can be brushed off as an effort to keep it concise.
Similar to The Big Short, the movie seeks to make complex financial dealings into a relatable narrative and mostly succeeds on the strengths of this cast. Dano is soft-spoken but captivating, Ramos’s interactions with his GameStop manager played by Dane DeHaan bring relatable lightness, and Ferrera delivers the emotional core of the movie, much like her performance in Barbie.
Surprisingly, one of the main standouts for me was Pete Davidson, who brings some of the biggest laughs. He’s Gill’s slacker brother, a DoorDash driver who eats most of the food he’s supposed to deliver. It’s clear they’re letting him riff with a lot of these lines and it works wonders to bring lightness to the movie. After this, his impressive work on Bupkis, and his strong performance in The King of Staten Island, maybe it’s time for me to put some respect on Pete Davidson’s name.
So, while Dumb Money does simplify its story a little too much, the strong performances from the cast and resurrected memories of the past few years make it an entertaining watch.
Check out my bite-sized review on TikTok here and view my other quick reviews on this YouTube playlist.
