The official synopsis of Money Monster describes it as a “high-stakes thriller.”
The “high-stakes” bit is probably a pun on the film’s dealings with the stock market.
But by calling it a thriller, the studio does something the film would make fun of. In this satirical hostage drama, nothing is holy. Especially the glitzy, fast-talking world of electronic media that’s so busy in mediocrity that it takes an extreme situation to make everyone realise how far they have come from what they are originally supposed to do.
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Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a hotshot TV host of a widely watched show about stock market. But going by his histrionics, with female hip-hoppers by his side, grinning and dancing to a jingle, Lee is more of a flashy reality show host than a stock-market analyst. He often exaggerates, without realising how far from truth he may have gone. He seems to be popular among his colleagues and has a friend in the show’s producer Patty (Julia Roberts). Until one day — this film shows one day, in cinematic real time — a gunman sneaks in through the backstage and holds Lee hostage. Turns out the young man called Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connel) is one of the victims of Lee’s exaggerated advocacy to invest in a certain company. But money is not what he wants anymore. He demands “answers” while the show is being broadcast to millions, answers about the credibility of the media and the transparency of public companies. “The real enemy of the America people is not Muslims or the Chinese people but these guys,” he tells the camera.
From here, the film goes where you expect a satire to go. And like all good satires, it never feels out of place because the world we live often outdoes parody. The film lambasts corporate pretence in a funny and effective way; the chit fund scams closer home resonate. More importantly, it shows us how we all take part in it: the complacent media, greedy financers, and the passive, ignorant public.
Clooney and O ’Connel, at the centre of the film, play off each other really well. Stuck in a newsroom studio set-up through most of the film, the two, almost seem like actors in a farcical play; from parodies, they unmask themselves into the people they are. Toward the end, as the scene shifts out on to the streets, it becomes like a 24-hour reality show in public. It reminded me of the brilliant British TV show
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Jodie Foster’s fourth directorial venture is an entertaining, well-acted film that is mostly funny and sometimes poignant.
Money Monster
Director: Jodie Foster
Cast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe, Giancarlo Esposito
Runtime: 98 mins