Netflix Comedy Is The Stupidest True Story About Wall Street Ever
If you’ve tuned into the financial news any time in the last few years, you’re likely familiar with the famous GameStop short squeeze of 2021, which saw thousands of Reddit users taking to services such as Robinhood to game the stock market. The story gained major traction throughout 2021 and beyond, just as crypto markets and NFTs began dominating the world of finance, and ultimately culminated in a fascinating comedy biopic titled Dumb Money, which is currently streaming on Netflix. Today, the dust has settled on the GameStop situation, and most money markets have leveled out, making the events of Dumb Money essentially impossible to replicate.
The Ole’ Short Squeeze Incident
Whether you were aware of the short squeeze incident back in 2021 or not, Dumb Money is a deeply fascinating look into the true events of the financial uproar, which also offers a ton of laugh-out-loud jokes from some of the funniest comedic actors currently working.
The film, which stars Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen, and Sebastian Stan, is currently streaming on Netflix. While Dumb Money does take some creative liberties with the source material, the film offers a mostly accurate retelling of the once-in-a-lifetime situation, while also offering some fascinating dramatic stakes.
All The Right Talent Went Into Dumb Money
Dumb Money was written by the screenwriting duo of Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, who previously collaborated on the fifth season of the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black.
The film, which adapts the work of Ben Mezrich’s non-fiction book The Antisocial Network, was directed by Craig Gillespie.
Before Dumb Money premiered in 2023, Gillespie was primarily known for helming such films as I, Tonya, Cruella, and several episodes of the Hulu original mini-series Pam & Tommy.
Roaring Kitty’s Financial Hot-Takes
The narrative of Dumb Money kicks off by introducing a middle class financial analyst named Keith Gill (Paul Dano) from the small town of Brockton, Massachusetts. During his free time, Gill frequents online finance message boards including a Reddit community called r/WallStreetBets, where he offers his money expertise to other aspiring finance gurus. He also runs a YouTube channel under the screen name Roaring Kitty, where he conducts live-streams to a small audience of followers within this niche.
Rooting For The Little Guy
Despite his interest in personal finance, Keith faces serious money problems, and his insistence on interacting with online trading groups is mocked as a waste of time by his family and peers. Still, the young analyst keeps at it, and one day uncovers a fascinating development with the stock of the failing retailer GameStop. As the plot of Dumb Money plays out, Keith begins spreading his knowledge of the GameStop stock to his online community, building a massive following of investors who nearly topple the entire stock market.
Streaming Dumb Money On Netflix
GFR SCORE
I won’t say much more about the film’s plot here– not because I don’t want to spoil it, but because I’m not entirely sure how the stock market works in the first place. Either way, Dumb Money offers a fun and comprehensive look at the short squeeze, which will leave you inspired, frustrated, and a little concerned for the state of global commerce. If you’re interested in checking the film out for yourself, Dumb Money is currently streaming on Netflix.
