Kim Gentes

Money for nothing and your kicks for free... fall.

Summary: Imagine a world in which people are trading with so much money that tiny slices of a single percentage of a sale was millions of dollars. Imagine that same world run completely by decisions based a supremely complicated formula inside of a computer. You've gone from the world of The Wealth of Nations to The Wealth of Equations. Now imagine that formula is wrong. What kind of world is that? It's the world described in "Margin Call". But it isn't just an imaginary world, its scathing criticism that borders on political bashing of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis. If all this sounds too technical to you, then you may not like "Margin Call". However, don't give yourself an easy out and ignore this movie, because it is actually the humanizing acting of its star-packed cast that brings the world of brokering mortgages backed derivatives down to a simple equation- are you greedy enough to do this? While this film could easily have been a political swing to demonize derivatives traders as a kind of Gordon Gecko meets Charles Keating meets LTCM company/persona (and I am not saying it isn't), the film has such great performances and personal stories that it engages the viewer and holds you captive throughout. Parental warning- excessive language in this film. Read full review before considering this for your children.

Full Review: I'll admit, if I hadn't been studying finance and economics for the last year I might not have found this film to be of interest as I pursued through the Netflix catalog. As I clicked "play" I was fully ready to stop and jump to some action film or brain teaser.  But right from the start, the intensity of this film was electric. Stanley Tucci's character, Eric Dale, is gripped with losing his job as a risk management manager at a trading company and you genuinely feel compelled by his loss and his sense of injustice. But as the story trails through its complicated introduction, each actor steps up with a believable (and sometimes powerful) character. Kevin Spacy is brilliant as director Sam Rogers, Jeremy Irons is commanding as the corporate CEO and Zachary Quinto plays his role as the brilliant young mathemetician perfectly. But it is actually Paul Bettany's work as the selfish, calculating and venomous Will Emerson (trading manager) that steals the show. His self-indicting script exposes what director/writer JC Chandor hopes will be a vilification of the greed of Wall Street.

The movie works well simply on the script and acting. No one dies (though you wish people would), no one is commiting espionage (though you think that might be where the film is going early on) and no actual crimes are being committed (though it seems hard to believe). Yet there is more tension and suspense in this movie than most action films I have seen. It is very well paced.

The weak parts of the movie are limited to a couple of peformances by Simon Baker (who seems like he is in way over his head) and Demi Moore (who can't act with any intensity in any scenario). Neither of them ruin their parts, but the comparitive weakness of their portrayals is obvious against the blistering performances of their counterparts.

Parent Warning/Rating considerations- This film is rated R. Because of the language, this is not a film I would let anyone under 13 watch, and anyone 13-17 should see it with parental supervision. I realize I am being more constrictive on my age recommendations than many people would be on such things, but this film says the F-word well over 50 times, and I wasn't counting. For adults who understand that films about the "real world" may have such language, this film will not seem any different than any other R film you've seen. I should note that there is no nudity in this movie, though there are references.

As a film, this is not a date-movie, guy-movie or chick-flick. It's most likely going to be one that is going to be passed on because it doesn't have content or themes appealing to "escapism in film". It's dreary, painful and even frightful in all the same ways that life can be- people losing jobs, people lieing to others, people doing things just close enough to be within the "law" but really avoiding moral guidelines. Not a popcorn-happy boost for an evening. But I hope that all that doesn't stop you from seeing this film.

If you give it a chance, I think it will end up being one of the best films you have seen in the last year.

Amazon DVD Link: http://amzn.to/RUsGmF

Review by Kim Gentes.