‎The Big Short (2015) directed by Adam McKay • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The Big Short

2015 Directed by Adam McKay

This is a true story.

The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown.

Christian Bale Steve Carell Ryan Gosling Brad Pitt Melissa Leo Hamish Linklater John Magaro Rafe Spall Jeremy Strong Finn Wittrock Marisa Tomei Tracy Letts Byron Mann Adepero Oduye Karen Gillan Max Greenfield Billy Magnussen Rudy Eisenzopf Casey Groves Charlie Talbert Harold Gervais Maria Frangos Hunter Burke Bernard Hocke Shauna Rappold Brandon Stacy Aiden Flowers Peter Epstein Anthony Marble Show All…

131 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Filmspotting ★★★★★ 17

Five stars? Yeah, five stars. Call me Standard & Poor's because I'm just tossing out AAA ratings.

A (frequently hilarious) crime movie where the American economy is the corpse, the entire financial system is the culprit, and the detectives all have bets on the body dropping.

But for the bearish take, you can hear Josh try to rain on my Adam McKay party on Filmspotting #566.
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 30

I've watched this film seven times in the last two weeks.
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 15

It absolutely does hold its audience's hand throughout the entire thing, like an overprotective father, and spoon-feeds us information like mothers performing the old airplane trick with their newborn infants -- but that's just part of the social commentary.

I love the borderline-self-parody aspect, for lack of a better word (always undercutting the seriousness of the situation with surrealist comedy until the third act strikes like a gavel and leaves you breathless), and the sendup of contemporary media techniques, e.g. the "cameos" relative to the way the masses consume their information.

But if you consider yourself an intelligent person and someone who, regardless of intentions, doesn’t need to be treated like a child (even for the sake of satire), then…
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 7

i liked so much of what this film is about, and so little of how it's about it.
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★★ 23

we're all such fucking fools.
Review by Wesley R. Ball ★★★★½ 10

This is a true story.

Adam McKay. Adam McKay?! How could Adam McKay, the guy who brought us Step Brothers, The Other Guys, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby bring us one of the most important films of the 21st century? How can Adam "Anchorman" McKay bring such a shocking and deeply layered story of corruption and demoralization to us? It appears I may have slightly misjudged his directorial abilities, because he absolutely floored me here.

The Big Short sizzles as McKay brings together Batman, Michael Scott, The Driver, and Tyler Durden to uncover one of the biggest and most overlooked crises in 21st century America. Everyone remembers the housing bubble burst in 2008, but most probably don't…

Recent reviews

Review by Bryan Kirby ★★★

I still don’t quite understand any of it, pretty much only what Margo, Selena and Anthony told me. Everything else went over my head. I still felt the doom at the end, just I wish I knew why. I did appreciate McKay as a director though and I look forward to Vice. I’m sure I’ll get this one since I understand politics better than finance.
Review by mshooster ★★★★★

McKay’s work on this, Bong Joon-ho, and Iannucci are my inspiration

<3
Review by liam De Brún ★★★★★

This film is incredible. The cast all bring big performances. Gosling and Carell are the major stand outs. How McKay went from Anchorman to this is beyond me.
Review by alvarocorrales

No sé calificar esta cosa. Una película que piensa que su audiencia es estúpida y no se corta a la hora de decírtelo repetidamente durante sus 2 horas de duración. Sinceramente me ha dado dolor de cabeza y me ha puesto de mala leche.
Review by Stephen Staunton ★★★½

I think I really really dislike the first hour or this film.
Review by Brad ★★★★

Big love big editing moments
Review by attackontima ★★★★½

I fucking love this movie so much. Steve Carell did the damn thing, and Ryan Gosling is just so freaking hilarious. Genuinely always amazed at how this film balances humour with emotional gut punches. Also that ending credit about water makes me catch my breath every time.
We all bout to die y'all
Review by chelsea ★★★½

this made me feel really stupid but it was still extremely interesting, perhaps i’ll rewatch it soon
Review by theofficeman ★★★½

four blockbuster actors come together to make an entertaining and rewatchable film...now that's what I call a good time. 3 and a half cums.