Money Monster (2016) ☆ ☆ ☆

Movies about big money maneuvering are tricky to make — and sell — because, I think, the gray areas surrounding wealth and greed obfuscate their human stories.  Think about how many films you’ve seen that chart how someone honestly becomes financially successful.  They do exist; Joy is a recent example.  Now think about how many films you’ve seen that depict how someone without money attempts to take it away from those who do.  Start with Bonnie and Clyde, or Scarface, or Dead Presidents; this is a universal archetype in cinema.  It’s much easier, and smarter, for filmmakers to side with the majority of viewers to aren’t rich, and who don’t necessarily trust those who are.  Money Monster explores the world of big money, how the system works, how it can be manipulated, and how unfair it is when someone cheats.

Jodie Foster’s film casts George Clooney as Lee Gates, a rambunctious financial analyst on TV who is taken hostage live on the air by a deliveryman, Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), who has lost all of his savings because he followed Gates’ advice.  Budwell just wants people to know the system is rigged, and his desperate act prods Gates and his producer Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) to start to dig into how a favorite company somehow “lost” $800 million overnight.  Because this is a movie the situation develops quickly and is solved within 90 minutes, whereas in real life there would be no such solution.

It’s generally an entertaining ride, even as it hits all the obvious plot points.  It is somewhat suspenseful, even as we all know that Gates and Budwell will live long enough to reach the preordained climax with the greedy money man (Dominic West).  Of course, this would only happen this way in the movies.  I really enjoyed Julia Roberts’ performance as the savvy producer; she subdues her star power in favor of sustaining a smart, quick-thinking character.  Other actors are good, but this is Julia’s movie all the way.

The film holds together pretty well, but thinking about it afterward it lessens its impact.  It carries a not-very-subtle subtext regarding police aggressiveness and tactics, yet it gives journalism a free rein to pretty much do anything.  It condemns how journalists fail to investigate complex issues such as the “glitch” that loses a fortune overnight, but then it has a handful of TV producers working out of a van solve the case, and prove it, in just minutes.  It uses language throughout that would never be allowed on live TV.  And in the tense walk down the crowded New York street, when Budwell uses his pistol, no action is taken against him, which is completely unrealistic.

Despite these issues I did enjoy Money Monster.  It taps into the empathy that surrounds someone like Kyle Budwell, who has lost his savings without doing anything wrong.  It rails against corporate greed even as it seems to celebrate the system.  It humbles bombastic TV host Lee Gates, introducing the human element into Gates’ charmless world of making money by betting on the fates of others.  Best of all, it has a conscience, in the form of Patty Fenn, the only person who can save the irksome Gates — from himself as well as an irate bomber.  ☆ ☆ ☆.  19 May 2016.

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