YOU CAN BANK ON THIS BEING A HIT — IT MAKES FUN OF WALL STREET

ONE of the members of the great ensemble cast in movie The Big Short likened his fellow thespians to musicians, performing together as part of an amazing orchestra.

It was an apt description because watching the movie — about the roots of the 2008 financial collapse in the U.S. — is like seeing a virtuoso composition played in front of you, with the instruments conducted by director Adam McKay (pictured below).

The film, which opens in the UK on January 22, stars Steve Carell, Christian Bale and Ryan Gosling; and features Rafe Spall, Brad Pitt (whose company, Plan B, produced it) and Jeremy Strong, a fast-rising American actor who came up with the orchestra analogy.

It’s the smartest, funniest movie around, and the reason I love it is that despite reading acres of print about the financial crash, The Big Short marked the first time I actually understood what the heck had happened. McKay told me that humour was his ‘secret weapon’ to help make the subject accessible. At one point, he has Margot Robbie, in a bikini in a pool, explain in simple terms about big banks, bad loans and bonds. Selena Gomez does another cameo where she deconstructs financial jargon.

Growing up in Philadelphia, McKay did a lot of stand-up work, which gave him the ability to locate the killer line that would make a joke soar. He expanded on that in a string of films with Will Ferrell, including the Anchorman pictures. ‘Comedy helped me sharpen the way I tell a story, visually,’ he said.

And The Big Short, which is garnering a lot of award-season attention, is the sharpest bigscreen analysis of why we’re still paying the price of the big banks’ greed. McKay is angry that none of the money merchants who ripped off the markets went to jail. ‘They’re still walking the streets, while the public’s still paying for the bank bailout.’ Well, if any movie’s going to create an upset at the Academy Awards and take gold away from the likes of Spotlight, The Martian, The Revenant, Mad Max, Carol, Brooklyn and The Danish Girl, it’ll be The Big Short.