Money
Monster
Kyle
Budwell: "I might be the one with
the gun here but I'm not the real criminal. It's people like these guys. I'm
telling you, it's rigged, the whole damn thing. They're stealing everything
from us and they're getting away with it too. They literally own the airwaves.
They literally control the information, but not today."
Money Monster is directed by Jodie
Foster (The Beaver) and stars George
Clooney as Lee Gates, Julia Roberts as Patty Fenn, Jack O'Connell as Kyle
Budwell, Dominic West as Walt Camby, Lenny Venito as Lenny the cameraman,
Caitriona Balfe as Diane Lester, and Giancarlo Esposito as Captain Powell.
Damn
it! Why does this keep happening to me?!?!
Money Monster is set in a newsroom type
of background with an energetic and pompous Lee Gates hosting a show called Money
Monster. He advises the public as to what stocks they should buy and sell. A
real life Mad Money with Jim Cramer,
if you will. During a taping of one of the shows, a stranger with a gun, Kyle
Budwell, terrorizes the newsroom and keeps the staff held hostage. Kyle straps
a bomb onto Lee because he is the one he's after. Kyle wants answers to the
question of why he lost a significant amount of money from a stock market drop
that Lee advised to invest in. All the while this is happening, Patty Fenn,
working behind the scenes as the producer of the show, does everything she can
to extract all the information she needs from the company that had the stock
market crash: IBIS. As the film goes on Kyle and Lee learn a lot from each
other, but not without major consequences getting in the way of each other's
goals.
How
can someone be so calm when their co-worker, let alone a friend, is being held
hostage at gunpoint and they are standing just 80 or so feet away? Patty's
nerves of steel really could work for me during final exams.
Money Monster contains a somewhat
original idea that I was honestly curious about, but the script is all over the
place and not cohesive enough to hold the story together completely. The tone
of the film, from the looks of the trailer, is supposed to be thriller based,
which it was for the most part. However, there are various moments in which the
narrative that deviates that thriller line and goes to unnecessary exposition
heavy scenes and not very well timed comedic moments. In fairness, the bulk of
the movie did portray an interesting dilemma and, for that, I was attached to
it, but barely. George Clooney and Julia Roberts, as always, do a fantastic job
with their performances. Julia Roberts' Patty Fenn is probably the most
interesting character, in terms of characterization. Her growth as a person and
a friend throughout the film is the clearest and really has the ability for
audiences to empathize with her. Yeah, she seems to be abnormally calm during
the bulk of the film, considering it is a film about domestic terrorism in Wall
Street, but her job as a producer is to stay calm and keep everything in order
behind the scenes of a TV show. Don't get me wrong, you can still see the fear
in her eyes, but it's mostly internal which is what is supposed to be done in a
situation like this and not freak out. George was fine and did the best he
could with this role. There really wasn't much to like about his character
since he was a total jerk to begin with. There are moments of humanity in his
character, but watching it didn't pull me in because of his foolish
personality. Jack O'Connell is an up and coming actor with acting chops for
sure and it shows in his confused and disgruntled character: Kyle Budwell. All
he wants is one simple, yet delicate, answer, but he gets frustrated every time
someone either stalls or gives him the wrong answer. It's a great portrayal of
a normal Joe who lost everything, so props to Jack O'Connell for doing another
good performance.
These
two stars always have great chemistry, but believe it or not, they did not film
together during the majority of the film because of scheduling conflicts. That's
just the power of great acting...and green screens.
Money Monster has a couple of good
things going for it as exemplified by the acting and the interesting premise,
but the negatives do outweigh the positives. The script is just messy. I'm not
exactly sure if the way it was shown was the work of Jodie Foster as the
director or of the screenwriters, although I choose not to believe it's Jodie
Foster because she knows acting and the acting is well done here, so it seems
like she was following how the script was written. Anyways, the script has too
many cuts to unnecessary or poorly executed scenes. The comedic moments there
are in during the film, and there are more than I expected there to be, are
mostly squeezed in so there isn't an overpopulation of the dark thriller
elements that were actually the most enjoyable to watch. There was one scene,
no spoilers, that reminded me of a Quentin Tarantino moment of
on-the-edge-of-your-seat dialogue, then the camera cuts straight to something
outrageous and unnecessary. The thing is that it works in Tarantino films because
you know what you're getting into from his previous films and because of the
already weird tone of the movie. I was personally taken back by it, but I can
see how other people will enjoy those comedic scenes.
The
day I see George Clooney dance like this in real life, is the day I will be
content with my life.
It
would be too easy (and much better) to make a thriller set only in a contained
environment. That's why there is a behind the scenes plot line of the behind
the scenes action that Patty Fenn is taking care of. While Lee is trying to
stall and calm Kyle, Patty is trying to collect the answers that Kyle, long
with many other people tuning in to the dramatic hostage situation, deserve. Diane
Lester, CCO of IBIS is clueless on the situation and she is also looking for
answers. I totally understand why the screenwriters would write this in the
movie, but it just wasn't as interesting as the terrorism that Kyle was
engaging in. Every time that plot line with Kyle cut to Diane Lester and the
IBIS employees, I was just begging to see the next gripping conversation that Kyle
and Lee would have next. These cutaways also happened way more times than I
feel like it needed. Once again, I understand why the plot line with IBIS was
necessary, but it wasn't as appealing as the action in the newsroom.
IBIS?
More like I Missed HAHAHA!...No? OK then.
Money Monster had the potential to be a
solid thriller, but it comes off as kind of desperate to please viewers, thus
the film consequently turned out to be sloppy. I'm not bagging it completely
because I did enjoy most of the performances in Money Monster. Everyone performed well and some did the best they
could, but they still don't save the movie. Sadly, the script was mostly messy with
many of the cuts going to different comedic scenes or a slight deviation to a
more boring than interesting plot line. Again, it's not a bad movie by any means.
I'll just let you make up your mind as to whether this will be a movie for you...or
if you would like to catch up on a movie you missed in previous weeks, that
would be cool too.
2.6/5
PRO
- Performance of three main leads
- Thriller aspect of the film was entertaining
- Script is messy and it shows with the cuts throughout the film
- Timing with comedic moments
- The other plot line with IBIS is uninteresting as compared to the plot line with Lee and Kyle
Money Monster is rated R for language throughout, some sexuality and brief violence
Click here to watch the trailer
Money Monster is in theaters everywhere now
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