This week, Netflix puts an American satire awarded to the Oscars, which brings together some of the biggest names in American cinema.
Alert: Dream casting! If we told you that there is a film that brings together popular cinema actors, such as Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Steve Carell, Karen Gillan, Melissa Leo, Marisa Tomei, Jeremy Strong or Margot Robbie and Selena Gomez, do you think? This week, Netflix puts an American satire online that succeeded in this feat and even won the Oscar for the best scenario adapted in 2016.
On paper, however, it is not a film that seems fun or sexy. This comedy returns to the outbreak of the 2008 financial crisis. In detail, we follow brilliant financiers who understood above all that a huge subprime crisis would burst. In question: criminal mortgages, granted by banks to individuals unable to repay. A choice is then essential: warn of the catastrophe to come, or take advantage of it to enrich themselves on the back of speculators and their victims, as long as there is still time.
The Big Short is an adaptation of the book of the same name, the writer and journalist Michael Lewis. Directed Adam McKay (Don’t look -up: cosmic denial, vice, the legend of Ron Burgundy …), the film takes a cold look at the American financial system, with sometimes contradictory objectives: to explain to the spectator the speculative mechanisms that govern the finance environment and the springs of the 2008 crisis, denounce the cynicism of the financial system, without forgetting to entertain an audience that is not necessarily advised on these questions.
The balance is delicate, but Adam McKay does not miss his target thanks to his corrosive humor, chiseled dialogues, and a very large casting. The actors all embody colorful characters who seek to exploit the flaws of the system … to the detriment of the public good. Despite his sometimes technical subject and difficult to follow if one is not initiated, The Big Short is devilishly effective.
The Big Short was released on Netflix CE 18 March 2025. But if you have a subscription to Disney+, do not panic, since the film is also accessible for subscribers of the Mickey platform.