Money Monster (2016) review

In describing the film Money Monster, I’m going to use a connection that I bet a few other critics have made as well in regards to the film. And that is the fact that this film shares quite a few similarities with the film Dog Day Afternoon, which I just so happened to have watched recently for a film class. Both films depict a stand-off situation that ends up becoming a nationally publicized event. And during this time, it is shown that the assailant actually isn’t really that much of a bad guy but instead just an average joe who’s down on his luck that’s committing said crime in order to take on those who wronged him. But whereas the main characters of Dog Day Afternoon were trying to rob a bank and basically kept messing it up, hence why the robbery in that film ended up turning into a standoff, the ‘criminal’ in Money Monster takes the host of a popular finance show hostage after a ‘tip’ that he got from a previous episode ended up majorly backfiring on him. What follows is a tense hostage situation revolving around a big bank conspiracy and a pretty darn well-directed and acted one at that. Director Jodie Foster, in her fourth foray behind the camera, gives us a film that not only succeeds in being a suspenseful thriller but also one that challenges the corruption of the U.S. economy, something that has clearly been on everyone’s minds in recent years (The Big Short, anyone?).

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the host of the financial show ‘Money Monster’, which for years has been supervised by director Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts). About a month prior to the events of the film, Gates had suggested to viewers that they invest in IBIS Global Capital but the company’s stock ends up going kaput presumably due to a glitch in the trading algorithm that it runs on. And that ends up becoming a problem not only for the investors, who collectively lose around $800 million, but for Lee and the crew of ‘Money Monster’ as well. In the middle of a broadcast one day after the IBIS stock crash, a mysterious ‘deliveryman’ walks onto set with a gun. The ‘deliveryman’, Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), takes Lee hostage and forces him to put on an explosive-laden vest. During this time, Kyle reveals that he was one of the many investors who got screwed over by the drop in IBIS’ stock, having invested his entire life savings, $60,000 to be precise, into it after following Lee’s advice. As both Lee and Patty try to keep things under control in the studio, as well as dealing with the police, led by Captain Marcus Powell (Giancarlo Esposito), once they arrive on the scene, they also begin to work with Kyle in order to figure out just what went wrong with IBIS’ stock. And as it turns out, there’s a lot more to this situation than just a supposed ‘algorithm glitch’.

Money Monster definitely delivers in terms of being a tense ‘claustrophobic’ thriller, at least in regards to the scenes where Kyle is holding Lee hostage in the studio. These scenes are well directed and edited and very much do their job in establishing both urgency and a palpable sense of tension throughout. While Patty tries to keep everything under control by communicating with both Lee and Kyle from the control room, Lee attempts to reason with Kyle in order to calm him down so that he won’t take his finger off of the bomb’s detonator. These are easily the best scenes in the film and they also do a very nice job at keeping things as ‘realistic’ as possible. The film also does a good job of maintaining a fittingly serious tone throughout, though there are a few moments of humor that lighten the mood from time to time, especially one particular scene at the end that, without giving too much away, sees the internet poke fun at one specific moment from the climax. Admittedly, the sequences set outside the studio are where the film starts to falter just a bit. I can’t really explain why but the overall ‘conspiracy’ that the film is working towards in regards to what happened with IBIS’ stock isn’t really as strong as the conflict that takes place within the studio. With that said, though, the film should still be commended for its efforts in challenging the corruption of the economy. And in some ways that corruption even comes from shows like ‘Money Monster’, which influenced people like Kyle enough for them to make stupid mistakes with their money by making disastrous investments. 

One of the best things about both this film and Dog Day Afternoon is that both allow the audience to sympathize with their ‘main criminals’ even when taking their not-so-honorable actions into account. Because as noted earlier, despite the fact that Kyle is the ‘gunman’ in this situation, we can sympathize with him in regards to how his financial losses seriously affected him, partially exemplified by a particularly emotionally devastating scene in which his pregnant girlfriend publicly berates him on live TV. Moments like that are very effective and Jack O’Connell handles them all excellently. As expected, he’s backed by a pair of excellent performances from George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Clooney’s trademark charisma is definitely on display here even though his character in this film can be rather smug at times, as shown in the early scenes when he is hosting his show. But once the main plot kicks in and the character becomes Kyle’s hostage, Clooney also does a nice job in conveying Gates’ fear, like when he first puts on the explosive-laden jacket and claims that he’s about to have a heart attack. As for Roberts, she’s also great in a role that serves as the mediator in this hostage situation while also having a solid camaraderie with Clooney. Everyone else in the cast is good as well but because the scenes outside of the studio aren’t really as strong as the ones inside the studio, the real stars of the show are Clooney, Roberts, and O’Connell.

Overall, Money Monster is a very solid real-time thriller that, for the most part, does its job in regards to establishing tension. This of course comes from the primary conflict that emerges between Lee Gates, Patty Fenn, and Kyle Budwell during a live broadcast of Gates’ show ‘Money Monster’. And during this hostage situation, the film does a very honorable job at critiquing the corruption of Wall Street. It isn’t even afraid to point the finger at shows like ‘Money Monster’ for, in their way, having a hand in said corruption. However, the film does suffer a bit when it comes to scenes set outside the studio, with most of these scenes serving as the third act of the film. The conspiracy plot that the film ends up focusing on isn’t really as strong as the suspenseful in-studio conflict. It may have something to do with the fact that this film has a fairly brisk runtime of only 98 minutes. It could be argued that certain moments in the plot are rather rushed over, particularly during the final third of the film. But despite the film’s shortcomings, the lead trio of George Clooney, Julia Roberts, and Jack O’Connell all do excellent jobs in their respective roles and the scenes involving their characters in-studio do make up for it for the most part. The end result is a film that may not be one of the best of its genre but is still a well-directed effort from Jodie Foster that at least does its job at being a solid and entertaining popcorn flick.

Rating: 3.5/5