‎Margin Call (2011) directed by J.C. Chandor • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Margin Call

2011 Directed by J.C. Chandor

Be first. Be smarter. Or cheat.

A thriller that revolves around the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Kevin Spacey Paul Bettany Jeremy Irons Zachary Quinto Ashley Williams Demi Moore Simon Baker Penn Badgley Mary McDonnell Stanley Tucci Aasif Mandvi Susan Blackwell Maria Dizzia

107 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Andy Summers ★★★★★ 1

Jeremy Irons has an Oscar. Kevin Spacey has two Oscars. J.C. Chandor will have one very soon if he continues to deliver anything as good as this and All Is Lost.
Review by Adam Cook ★★★ 7

Margin Call is one of the better fictional films about the economic crisis. In fact, with the competition being so inept (see The Company Men for proof of this) it could well be the best. Rather than chronicling the collapse from the perspective of the average man on the street it takes the braver position of showing how it impacted on the investment bankers that were part of the problem. Considering most people want to lynch these irresponsible number pushers it is interesting to see writer-director, J.C. Chandor, wanting to humanise society’s new public enemy number one.

For the most part he does a good job showing how their lack of foresight brought down the entire house of cards. Over…
Review by Sam Van Hallgren ★★★★

Gotta give WOLF OF WALL STREET some credit - it gave me an appetite for entertainment about The Street and its denizens that was left mostly unsatisfied by Scorsese's film. I've been reading LIAR'S POKER - Michael Lewis's fantastic account of the rise and fall of Solomon Brothers in the late 80s. And then last night I finally caught up with the excellent MARGIN CALL. I guess one of my primary gripes with WOWS was my lack of interest in spending time with its characters and their antics, while also still being interested in the mechanics of their operation. MARGIN CALL is all mechanics. Thrillingly so. Maybe even more of a gut punch a couple years later, as the stock market recovers and we start to forget our rage at these gamblers as they start to line our purses again. As if anything has changed.
Review by Steve G ★★★★ 3

It takes a special talent to make a film about a subject and, for quite a lot of the running time, have much of your audience wonder what the hell anyone is talking about. It has to be a special talent because how else would a film like Margin Call end up being so utterly riveting?

The purported plot sees a troubled Wall Street investment bank wrestle with the decision to sell off all its assets, assets they know are very soon to be worthless, after discovering that the firm has reached the limits of its spending and risk plunging the stock market and banking sector into crisis as a result.

What I watched it as was, "Some bad stuff's…
Review by Matthew L. Brady ★★★ 2

This is one of those movies where everyone calls flawless but I think it's well done on a acting and directing point of view, but I do think it's a bit overrated in my opinion.

The story to Margin Call takes place in 2008 as a tense action as we follow one 24-hour period at an investment bank just before the financial crisis hits.

Margin Call is a movie that I thought was alright. I do think the movie is well acted and nicely written, but to me the movie is a slow burn and I just don't think it's brilliant as people thought it was. It's not a bad film but I don't think it's a great film, just alright in my opinion.
Review by Sir William Blake 🎥 ★★★★ 1

GETTING FIRED , IT'S LIKE ...

... Is like ... losing everything and anything that makes you get rich, will lean cows and the milk they are spouting sour and no longer make you richer, and the flesh has rotted and no longer has the to drink or eat, and times of plenty is over. And their horses were killed, mangled, butchered, and disappeared from their thick and steady hands. And not only their horses disappeared from their properties, and pigs; fat and rosy creatures too, and his hands have lost their strength to tie them. Because there's nothing left for you. You are weak and powerless.

And, if you have no more to claim will not be your patience,…

Recent reviews

Review by ulunsarang ★★★★

돼지들이 더 많이 먹고 싶어하지
Review by Ryan Nary ★★★½

ah capitalism
Review by Marlon Pérez ★★★★

Network, Wall Street and the firm: Margin Call.
Review by Dana Alston ★★★★½

I understand this movie is objectively boring but also eff off it’s incredible
Review by Lagrangian54 ★★★

Solid movie, but I kept thinking about how Cosmopolis took this film and revealed its disgusting unnatural innards.
Review by valbrnz ★★★★

Un bon casting, et un bon scénario.
C'était sympa à regarder !
Review by BrodiesFilmkritiken ★★★★

Da muß ich wohl fair und ehrlich zu mir selbst sein: ich fürchte ich bin definitiv zu doof um es wirklich zu verstehen. Zumindest all das Börsengerede und die Fachbegriffe, wie auch die ganze „Welt“ in der dieser Film spielt. Er spielt in den Hochhäusern und Chefetagen von New York City, eigentlich permanent im Büro. Durchgehend hat man irgendwelche Leute in Anzügen die Besprechungen und Konferenzen abhalten. Somit wird das für einen Laien wie mich einfach nur zu einem „Dauerlaberfilm“. Trotzdem macht er eines klar: bei einem Börsencrash sind Menschen betroffen und die Gestalten in den Anzügen die ihr aufmarschieren sind hinter ihren Krawatten letztlich auch nur Menschen. Teils berechnend, teils fassungslose – im Film von einer fetten Stargarde verkörpert:…
Review by nrs182 ★★★

It's no The Big Short, but it's ok. Also, capitalism will eat this planet whole same way it ate our souls.
Review by the_raging_bull ★★★★

It manages to convey the anxiety and shakeup of the upper crust of bankers during the financial crisis must better than The Big Short, which seems to sacrifice too much to try and make the audience understand. And the thing about this movie is that I did understand the points of view all the characters had. Not moralizing how bad things are going to be for everyone else but a strange calm between this and thinking everyone else is below you. You know you're hurting others but there is still money to make, and everyone is in the same race for it. That's where Jeremy Irons's character ends up.

I saw this movie because of a review I saw on twitter, calling it the best movie about capitalism, and feeling like I kind of understand that a little bit more after seeing this shows that Chandor did his job well.