Movie Review—Money Monster

Money Monster

by Peter J. O'Connell

Money Monster. Released: May 2016. Runtime: 98 mins. MPAA rating: R for language throughout, some sexuality and brief violence.

Jodie Foster came of age movie-wise when, at the age of 13, she played a teen prostitute in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), one of the classic films of the great 1970s era of movie-making. Now Foster as director helms Money Monster, a film influenced by two other 1970s classics, Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon (1975) and Network (1976). The first of these is a hostage drama laced with dark humor, and the second is a dark satire of the media. Into this mix Foster and her film's writers have added a financial critique a la the recent The Big Short (2015). 

In Money Monster George Clooney is Lee Gates, the flamboyant host of a TV show on a financial news network. Lee had planned to have Walt Canby (Dominic West), the head of Ibis Clear Capital, on to explain why that company's stock had cratered the day before, supposedly because of a glitch in a trading algorithm. Lee had been touting the stock. Canby, however, does not show up for the show and is reportedly abroad and, seemingly, unreachable.

Someone who does show up, however, is Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell), a young blue-collar guy who trusted Lee and thus lost his savings and inheritance in the Ibis crash. Kyle makes his way onto the set of Lee's show, pulls a gun, takes Lee hostage, and requires him to put on an explosive vest. Kyle demands more satisfactory answers to what happened at Ibis than “a glitch.” Unless he gets them, he says that he will blow up Lee and shoot himself. 

With the help of his longtime director, Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), Lee attempts to mollify Kyle and get him his “answers.” The TV cameras keep rolling on the studio events while the NYPD moves onto the scene outside in full force. 

Lee and Patty implore Diane Lister (Caitriona Balfe), PR director of Ibis, to find an explanation that will satisfy Kyle. Diane's first pro forma responses have not. Moved by the grim situation, Diane ranges the Internet from Korea to Iceland to South Africa seeking the real truth. In the meantime, Kyle's girlfriend, Molly (Emily Meade), makes a startling broadcast appearance to Kyle.

Eventually, events move out of the TV studio and into the Wall Street area. And these events are dangerously close to spinning out of control, despite the best efforts of Lee, Patty, Diane and NYPD Captain Powell (Giancarlo Esposito).

Money Monster is enjoyable and exciting, though lacking the brilliance of the '70s iconic works and the innovative techniques of The Big Short. Seasoned pros Clooney and Roberts produce, respectively, a character (Lee),who is simultaneously sleazy, befuddled and good-hearted and a character (Patty) whose reserves of inner strength are stretched almost to the breaking point in an attempt to keep everyone else calm. Jack O'Connell is convincing as the aggrieved Kyle; Caitriona Balfe is impressive as Diane; and Emily Meade has a strong impact, to say the least, as Molly.

Money Monster is definitely worth an investment of a few bucks from your wallet and 98 minutes of your time.