Money Monster (2016) - Film Review

Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell & Dominic West

Screenplay: Alan Di Fiore, Jim Kouf & Jamie Linden

Directed By: Jodie Foster

Certificate: 15

 

Since the financial crisis of 2008, I'm not sure if the Western world's faith in banks and financial organisations has ever been at a lower point. No matter who or where you were, you would've been affected in some way by the crisis and the effects of it are still being felt eight years later. It's not a time that films have shied away from portraying on the big screen, and the most notable of these would be the Oscar-winning film The Big Short. The world is still riding on a wave of socio-economic anger, and 2016's Money Monster is prepared to make timely use of it.

 

Lee Gates is the flashy, flamboyant presenter of the TV financial show Money Monster, directed and produced by the long-suffering Patty Fenn. Lee tells his viewers of the stock plummet experienced by the corporation IBIS and their loss of $800m overnight. In the middle of presenting his show, Lee is put at gunpoint and forced to wear a suicide vest after Kyle Budwell breaks into the studio. Having invested and lost his life savings in IBIS, Kyle demands answers, and so begins a complex hunt to find answers and explain how the company could have lost such a huge amount of money overnight. But the clock is ticking and Lee's life is at serious risk...

 

As a thriller film, it's Money Monster's job to keep the audience hooked and on the edge of their seats, and in this regard, it succeeds. The script is for the most part, well-paced and keeps the audience at whichever location is the most tense or wherever there's something going on to advance the plot, be it the TV studio, the IBIS offices etc. That being said, it may be worth noting that there are times where the tension in Money Monster is slightly diminished once we remember what we're not seeing. Whenever we're outside the studio, there may be that thought in the back of your head that Lee, Kyle and Patty are just sat there waiting for something to happen, and so long as that thought is there, you may not be quite as on the edge of your seat as was intended. I also found myself taken out of the experience whenever we cut to seeing the police try to access the studio and evacuate people without Kyle noticing – for a film that takes place in real time, they took one hell of a long time getting in. That being said, once the police are in the studio, it does wonders for the tension and it had my complete attention. It's also worth mentioning that for all the financial and economic jargon surrounding Money Monster, it's surprisingly accessible. My knowledge of finances and economics is woeful, but you don't need to be some sort of financial expert to enjoy and understand the film – the stakes, circumstances and problems are all made entirely clear.

 

What makes Money Monster so unique is its style and choice of setting. I can't think of any other thriller film I've seen that's committed to being mostly set in a TV studio, but it works really well. Come to think about it, a TV studio is an ideal setting for a thriller – the space you've got is limited and compact, and there's few exits to be found. Director Jodie Foster further shapes Money Monster into a stylish and polished film, and often works best and comes up with the better and more distinctive shots when she's directing scenes in the TV studio.

 

But while the film's main intentions are to thrill whilst making a socio-economic statement (albeit with mixed results, but more on that later), it also knows how to mix in moments of dark comedy and to great effect. Every now and then, there's a moment where new information is revealed or a character tries to do something different, and from here you think you know where the film is going... only for it to pull the rug out from under your feet. One of the best examples of this is when Lee makes an appeal to everyone watching him to invest in IBIS in order to recoup the lost money and save his life. For a minute, it seems like its working ... before it falls completely flat, and the way it's played out here makes it so darkly hilarious. Perhaps even clearer examples of this same dark comedy include Kyle's girlfriend getting in touch with the studio, only for her to awkwardly and aggressively slate him, or even one of the show's producers having sex whilst oblivious to the hostage situation taking place around him.

 

Nearly every character in the film is well-written and each is very well cast. Another of my worries about Money Monster was that it would sacrifice characters in favour of its story, but for the most part, it doesn't. George Clooney is ideal casting as Lee Gates, a man who over the space of a hundred minutes transitions from a cocky, glitzy and even arrogant man to someone much more grounded. The early scenes of Lee surrounded by a load of ridiculous gumpf reminded me a lot of George Clooney as an actor. In the media, there's so much focus on his personal life, his star status, or him being called one of the most attractive men on the planet, that we forget among all that, he's a brilliant actor too. Julia Roberts turns in a convincing performance as Patty, Money Monster's dedicated director, exasperated with Lee's antics and working on her final show with him. Though the two barely appear on screen together, Julia Roberts goes a long way in making the relationship between Patty and Lee feel genuine. The weak link of the three is Kyle, not because he isn't rounded out as a character, but because he's never allowed a moment of subtlety. It's a great performance from Jack O'Connell, but I still really wish there were a couple of scenes where he's toned down, because although I hardly condone the way he's going about it, through all his shouting, you can sympathize with his point of view. I'm not going to call it a spoiler, seeing as this is a film about people being screwed over by the banks – but of course there's something shady going on!

 

That's the biggest problem with Money Monster – it doesn't seem to appreciate the heft and weight of the socio-economic messages it wants to make. In all honesty, a film like this isn't the best format to talk about this kind of thing anyway – a group of A-list millionaire celebrities complaining about how much people are getting screwed over by banks. What I'm most concerned about is that Money Monster just feels too close to the mainstream for it to really hammer home its attack on financial corruption. This was clear right at the end of the film. Once the conspiracy had been uncovered, what happens next with Lee and Kyle could have ended the film on a really powerful note, but it undermines itself with a more sweet Hollywood-friendly ending involving Lee and Patty. Its things like this that make the film too mainstream, and not willing enough to really let rip against the shady corruption that can infest banks and businesses.

 

But on a simple level, Money Monster succeeds as a thrill-ride, featuring a plot that takes plenty of twists and turns along the way as well as convincing, yet powerful performances from its very talented main cast. The premise may be highly implausible, and it is too glossy and polished for it to really put across its themes and messages. However, it may still be worth your time seeing as at the very least, it rarely leaves you bored and there is still a solid amount to like here.

Money Monster



7/10