MONEY MONSTER (2016)

Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Jodie Foster
Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, Giancarlo Esposito, Caitriona Balfe
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Rating: M18 (Sexual Scene & Coarse Language)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/MoneyMonster

Opening Day: 13 May 2016

Synopsis: In the real-time, high stakes thriller Money Monster, George Clooney and Julia Roberts star as financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty, who are put in an explosive situation when an irate investor who has lost everything (Jack O’Connell) forcefully takes over their studio. During a tense standoff broadcast to millions on live TV, Lee and Patty must work furiously against the clock to unravel the mystery behind a conspiracy at the heart of today's fast-paced, high-tech global markets.

Movie Review:

On their own, the various elements that form Money Monster don’t seem to work very well. It fails to be cutting enough in its critique of the deception on Wall Street masquerading as innovation or sophisticated investments. It gets your heart pumping only a little bit quicker only at one or two points as a thriller. As a conspiracy saga, the conspiracy unfolds pretty quickly and you know who the crooked mastermind behind the whole shenanigan is in less than 30 minutes into the show.

Yet somehow when the elements are put together, this movie works surprisingly well, as it takes aim at not just Wall Street and the finance industry but also at reality television and rolling news, thanks to solid performances by its leads – George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Clooney’s shameless self-promoting television host Lee Gates could easily have been played as the more intelligent and conniving cousin of Baird Whitlock in Hail Caesar (also played by Clooney). Instead, Clooney adds dimension to the character by underplaying it at crucial moments, making it believable that this schmuck is an unwitting accomplice to a conspiracy set up by Dominic West’s jet-setting CEO simply because he doesn’t realise that there are people out there who takes his performance as a financial maestro seriously (can you blame him when the ‘maestro’ opens his act each time with some over-the-top dances that are lame hip-hop attempts?). Clooney treads the breadth of his character finely, making Lee Gates a relatable character who audiences believe is capable of being a guileless egocentric chauvinist who attempts to right the wrong created by his skulduggery by taking drastic actions, aiding his “kidnapper” (played by Jack O’Connell) and feeling somewhat paternal over him at times.

As Gates’ long-suffering producer Patty Fenn, Julia Roberts holds her own against Clooney. She manages to draw your attention although most of the time she is confined to a control panel or booth or her presence is limited to merely being a voice in Gates’ earpiece.

Director Jodie Foster balances the presence of the two stars by deftly cutting between the set and the control booth, which also helps in capturing the controlled chaos of “live” television from the onset. Setting the movie’s timeline in an approximation of real-time here pays off as the audience gets more caught up seeing the plot unfolds “live”, adding another layer of richness as the movie takes on the tone of the reality/”live” television format that it also seeks to mock and cast a critical eye on.

Foster also subtly mocks Hollywood’s cookie-cutter plot elements by putting them in and giving them a different spin. The hopeful moment where Gates appeal to audiences to help him push up the price of a stock to save his life veers in the opposite direction as the price of the stock falls further instead. Similarly, the “kidnapper”’s pregnant girlfriend, brought in to persuade the “kidnapper” to release the hostages, chooses instead to berate him for his stupid action and challenges him to shoot himself instead.

However, as the hostage situation unfolds more, Foster lets in increasingly less believable and less relatable plot elements such as stoned Icelandic computer hackers who giggle over their use of a yoda voice coming in to provide the much needed assistance to unlock the mystery. It also is a mystery as to how a subplot of Lee’s producer test-driving a new erectile-dysfunction drug adds to the movie. The tempo of the movie gets confused because of these elements which detract from it although the process of going through them is not painful. The resolution is a bit of a disappointment, ending the movie on a rather “meh” note rather than the thought-provoking note that it could have closed off with. 

Movie Rating:

(Although the movie could have taken it much a notch and tighten its pacing, its relevance, at this juncture of populist voters lifting up a seemingly un-presidential choice of Donald Trump as a candidate, makes it worth the short time it takes to watch it to the end)

Review by Katrina Tee