If you enjoyed the true financial fiasco depicted in Adam McKay’s “The Big Short,” “Dumb Money” provides an equally true and entertaining look at the impact social media had on Wall Street with a two month takeover of GameStop stock shares.
During the pandemic from December 2020 to February 2021, financial analyst Keith Gill (Paul Dano), podcasting under the moniker Roaring Kitty, told his followers about a stock he felt was undervalued. Putting his money where his mouth was, Gill invested a sizeable share of his savings into shares of GameStop, the seemingly defunct brick-and-mortar store selling video game software. Trading through an app called Robinhood, GameStop shares began selling at a furious rate as its share quote was around three dollars. In two months time, individual investors (‘dumb money’ in Wall Street slang) buying GameStop stock increased share value a hundredfold to over $300 per share. The fortuitous frenzy of Gill/Roaring Kitty’s commitment to GameStop was making ordinary investors commit to Gill and GameStop stock as well- on paper, their purchases were prospering and the longer they withheld from cashing out, the more they could continue Roaring Kitty’s movement of ‘sticking it’ to the Wall Street elite.
As with any gamble, the people betting against GameStop shares (‘shorting it’) were billionaires standing to lose billions with GameStop’s share acquisition anomaly. As GameStop share value rose, so did the blood pressures of Melvin Capital hedge fund founder Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen) and Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan). Seeking buyout help, both Plotkin and Tenev turned to billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman) and Robinhood stopped GameStop stock trading on its app. Needless to say, the share purchasing freeze for GameStop sent up red flags. Not knowing what Gill’s next move would be, his followers had a choice: cash out or continue their grassroots revolution.
While it seems convoluted, director Craig Gillespie (“I, Tonya”) keeps “Dumb Money” accessible by showing the linear effects of the GameStop stock purchasing among the ordinary individual investors- they’re the backbone of the film and help the story flow more easily than what would have been a ‘talking head’ movie between Gill and the billionaires gunning for him. The investors include a healthcare worker drowning in the pandemic’s demands (America Ferrara), a GameStop employee (Anthony Ramos) looking for the stock to provide some financial stability, and a couple of college students (Myha;la Herrold and Talia Ryder) rebelliously impulse purchasing shares as members of Roaring Kitty’s monetary movement. The actors keep the investors interesting and force you to figure what decisions they’ll make- stay the course with the stock or collect the windfall the odds wouldn’t have predicted.
The most intriguing aspect of “Dumb Money” is the gamble Gill is repeatedly forced to make: can I depend on the continued support of the invisible investors or will greed gut the gains we’ve collectively made? Fortunately, the film finds a way to prove faith in your fellow man isn’t always a gamble- it can be a wise investment.