A film about the players involved in the 2008 financial crisis might sound like a bore, even with Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, and—oddly—Selena Gomez, along for the ride. However, The Big Short, a nominee for the best picture Golden Globe, is anything but. Here's what critics are saying:
- "Director Adam McKay channels his own anger into something rarely even attempted by Hollywood, let alone pulled off: a comedy about a tragedy," writes Gersh Kuntzman at the New York Daily News. Celebs pop in to "explain an esoteric bit of financial jargon," Kuntzman writes. "It's not only funny, but … it may be the greatest legacy of The Big Short." Both Bale and Carell deliver "Oscar-worthy performances," he adds.
- "At the end, your brain hurts and you feel sick to your stomach … But that queasy, empty feeling is the point," writes AO Scott at the New York Times. "There is no happy ending to this story," yet "the teams conspiring to short the market are impossible not to root for, and the work of the movie's sprawling ensemble is never less than delightful." The Big Short is "a true crime story and a madcap comedy, a heist movie and a scalding polemic," Scott writes. It's "terrifically enjoyable."