Due to how recent the GameStop stock surge phenomenon was, one might feel as if they know everything there is about the way a group of reddit users nearly crippled Wall Street. However, if there is one take away from Craig Gillespie’s film Dumb Money, it is that those who think they know it all are usually in for a rude awakening.
For decades the major players on Wall Street, such as the firm Melvin Capital, held the keys to who soared and crashed on the markets. Investors, like hedge fund manager Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), would target struggling companies, like brick-and-mortar store GameStop, and “short” their stocks as a way to financially capitalize on their mismanagement. It was a practice that went unnoticed by the average public until Keith Gill (Paul Dano) brought it to the masses on the internet.
Adapting Ben Mezrich’s novel The Antisocial Network, Dumb Money charts how Gill, through the use of videos that explained the stock market in a fashion that everyone could understand, started an online movement that shook Wall Street to the core. Known as Rolling Kitty to those on the reddit Wall Streets Bets message forums, Gill’s videos went viral during the pandemic as people were looking for connection. Fuelled by a craving for community, and angered by a system that kept them financial stuck on the same revolving hamster wheel, many were seeking to reclaim their power and Gill gave them a cause to do just that.
Firmly believing that men like Plotkin were unfairly targeting GameStop, a store he loved, Gill convinced many novice investors to put money into the stock. Using the Robin Hood app, which was designed to make buy and selling stocks easy, individuals ranging from a nurse, Jenny Campbell (America Ferrara) to two college students Riri (Myha’la Herrold) and Harmony (Talia Ryder), started to pour the money they had, and some cases didn’t have, into the stock. The influx of investors caused the stock to rise to historic heights that not even seasoned Wall Street forecasters could have predicted.
Keeping close to Mezrich’s text, the film documents the miraculous rise of the GameStop stock and the reluctance of Wall Street to believe that average folks could ever beat the system they created. Gillespie quickly introduces his players, and their various net worths prior to the surge, before delving into the mechanics of shorting a stock and the pressures on both Plotkin and Gill to hold their respective lines in the sand. Throughout all of this Dumb Money weaves in plenty of humour to make its financial deep dive easier to swallow.
While the film offers a solid introduction to the scandal that unfolded, Gillespie’s film does downplay some of the problematic aspects of the Wall Street Bets forum, specifically the hate speech that was running rampant, and reduces them to jokes in the script. Instead, Dumb Money opts to focus more on how the disenfranchised, regardless of background and affiliations, can mobilize when given the right motivation.
Seeing themselves as online warriors hoping to put their spears into the bull that is Wall Street, many of the would-be revolutionaries believe that they are changing the game. While they see their loyalty to the cause as something bigger than themselves, Gillespie’s film makes it clear that making money was always the bottom line.
The pursuit of the mighty dollar, even if it is just on paper or computer screens, becomes its own addictive drug. In one scene Marcus (Anthony Ramos), an actual GameStop employee and disciple of Gill, mimics snorting a line of coke on his phone when his parents question why he refuses to sell his shares when they vastly exceed his initial investment. The answer is clear though, every character is chasing that next high. The rush of adrenaline that comes from hitting that buy button or resisting the temptation to sell. Characters stayed cling to their Robin Hood app like it is the only lifejacket on a boat sailing deeper into uncharted waters.
While the volatility of the market makes for plenty of drama and moments of humor, the latter mostly coming from Gill’s brother Kevin (Pete Davidson), it also exposes how little one gets to know the individuals in the film. Mezrich’s book covered a lot of ground explaining the ins and outs of investing and shorting stock, while still provided enough insight into each character’s background for one to care about their experiences with the markets. Gillespie’s film, on the other hand, only provides broad character sketches that he never fully colours in. Regardless of whether they are rich or struggling, no one is explored with any dip outside of Gill.
By putting the majority of the film’s energy into following Gill, the film misses the opportunity to truly rake the Wall Street folks over the coals. The David versus Goliath tale is far more interesting when one knows how fearsome the latter is. Plotkin is shown as cocky and arrogant, but his interactions with financial titans like Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio) are played more for laughs. One does not feel as if you are watching a brilliant mind facing his downfall. Furthermore, the death threats he received, the cost of being the de facto face of the reddit ire, is barely touched on.
The creators of the Robinhood app also get off relatively light all things considered. In fact, Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota) feel almost like an afterthought. They are introduced as tech billionaires who can barely keep the apps questionable approach to making profits a secret. Aside from their smarmy practice of stopping users from buying GameStop stocks at the height of its rise, we learn very little about these men or their business at large. Like most in the film, they are merely points in an overview chart.
The full ramifications of the GameStop stock surge are still unfolding in real-time, but Dumb Money offers a solid primer of the key events and players involved. Although not as masterfully crafted like The Social Network, or as satirically biting as The Big Short, it offers enough insight and humour to satisfy financial novices. The film captures the frustration that many felt having to play in a financial game that was rigged from the start. Wall Streets may have considered the money they made of short stock to be “dumb,” but Gill and his followers clearly weren’t.
