'Dumb Money' Is A Disjointed, Hilarious Robin Hood Tale

One of the biggest financial battles against Wall Street is dramatized on the big screen with varying levels of success. Dumb Money plays like a comedic Robin Hood tale of the poor taking from the rich that's imbalanced with its chaotic, interconnecting plot lines. Dumb Money refers to the public buying and selling of investments during turbulent times in the stock market. 2021 was a turbulent financial moment. The world was still under the COVID-19 pandemic, and the stock market was in the dumps. That didn't stop those smart enough to invest in dumb money. With the little man sticking it to the big man, one person started an online revolution. 

Keith Gill (Paul Dano) is a financial analyst and investor who's also a social media influencer who goes under the name Roaring Kitty. The username is made apparent by Keith's adorable assortment of kitten t-shirts he sports during his livestreams. Unlike most live streamers, Roaring Kitty doesn't talk about video games or pop culture. He discusses the stock market, gaining his reach by telling viewers what to invest in. 

Amidst the COVID pandemic, Keith advises his viewers to invest in GameStop (GME) Stock, seeing the penny stock's massive value during the pandemic. As everyone is locked inside, gamers flooded GameStop buying used game discs, skyrocketing GME's value. The working class invested in GameStop stock, which ultimately rose to $348 per share, at least according to the movie. There are conflicting reports regarding its accuracy. 

Dumb Money is depicted as a hero's tale. It's the story of idiots like me who don't understand the stock market and get rich by investing in something they can't comprehend. As depicted in the film, everyone earns a little victory over the top hedge fund managers of the country until things start to come crashing down. Yet how much of it is true is up for grabs. In order to keep the narrative compelling, the film tells what could be an inaccurate story to solicit an uplifting tale of David vs. Goliath. 

The film cuts between many conjoined plotlines. There's Keith Grill as the film's protagonist and hero. His next of kin is his brother Kevin (Pete Davidson), who still lives with his parents and delivers food for DoorDash. Outside of Keith's plotline is the story of a nurse—Jenny (America Ferrera), living on the bottom of the economic totem pole. Thanks to social media influence, she follows Roaring Kitty's financial advice, investing herself in GME stock. Two roommates, Riri (Mya'hala Herrold) and Harmony Williams (Talia Ryder), invest in the stock as well, as does a GameStop employee (Anthony Ramos). Even with all these characters, I still haven’t named all of them.

At the top of the food chain are the Wall Street hedge fund managers Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogan), Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), and Steve Cohen Vincent D'Onofrio). The film balances these plotlines like a juggler trying to catch too many balls simultaneously. Although it's inherently clear that we're supposed to follow the lowly folks who invested in GME stock, there could be fewer plotlines resembling the everyman. 

We get that this is a tale of the common American taking on the one percent from the inside through Paul Dano's character. He's a man who lives in a normal, small American house with a wife and kid. Keith is a middle-income commoner trying to help the average guy however he can. When cutting constantly to other characters within the same (or below) Keith's pay grade, the film overemphasizes its theme of the rich against the poor. Although Nurse Jenny is a sympathetic character, her arc could be cut, and the film wouldn't lose much. The plot between the two roommates could be removed as well.  

Although it's a small complaint, Director Craig Gillespie could benefit from laying off most of the film's news beats and rapid cutting structure. The movie uses the news to translate stock market information that may confuse viewers. The news beats are supposedly used to clarify the narrative about money; however, it minimally helps. It's an understandable problem, as making the stock market make sense to the ordinary shmuck is nearly impossible. Adam McKay tried his best to convey complicated financial information by having Margot Robbie explain subprime mortgages to the audience while sitting in a bubble bath in The Big Short. How that worked out is left to the knowledge of the viewer. 

What movies like The Big Short did right is something Dumb Money struggles with. There are so many plot lines cutting together simultaneously the movie can be dizzying. The film rapidly transitions between characters, leaving little room to breathe for each person. Director Craig Gillespie could have contributed by having less going on all at the same time in the picture. It's an understandable choice to combine news beats and characters as the film is trying to capture the wide impact the GameStop short squeeze had in the world. Yet much of the picture could have focussed more on Keith Gill, who's a dynamic protagonist to follow, and less on everyone else. Keith's path from YouTuber to millionaire is a fascinating journey that stands tall on its own two legs without needing extra narrative assistance. 

Thanks to Paul Dano's gentle personality, Keith doesn't appear as an obnoxious social media influencer but a relatable figure the audience is meant to root for. In an interesting casting choice, Seth Rogan plays one of the story's villains who doesn't come across as one. Although a rich hedge fund manager, Gabe Plotkin has a likable persona. He's the kind of person you could have a beer with. When Gabe and his friends start to lose money, the film doesn't find itself rooting against him as much as you'd expect. Still, it's a glorious middle finger to the upper class that doesn't hide its disdain for the rich. Vincent D'Onofrio's Steve Cohen is more of the unlikeable type of billionaire you'd imagine, as is Nick Offerman, who's a bit of a dry curmudgeon person in the picture. The cast overall is strong, but there are too many of them.

Despite the film being narratively disjointed, Dumb Money is a provocative, hilarious story that captures the century we live in beautifully. COVID is placed at the forefront of the film, with digital technology being one of the few means of communication people have with one another. The movie is loaded with memes and the power social media has on the masses. It's one of many films to come featuring the COVID pandemic. Marcus (the GameStop employee) is chastised by his boss for not keeping his mask on, and people are riding public transport with their faces covered up. Craig Gillespie wonderfully depicts a generation through their memes, telling an uplifting story about people finding a way to profit during one of the worst times in America. 

Structurally sloppy but emotionally hilarious, Dumb Money is an interesting narrative similar to other films about the market, like The Big Short and Blackberry. Similar to those movies, this film is a funny look at a historical time that shifted the public consciousness. How well it depicts its story varies, with some characters who are more interesting than others but wins with a relentlessly funny tone.