Money Monster (2016)
Directed by Jodie Foster
Financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes over their studio.
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Harking back to the outrage of Sidney Lumet’s “Network” (1976), Budwell is “mad as hell” and wants an explanation.
In its real-time hostage-taking scenario and sendup of infotainment, Money Monster weakly nods to the Sidney Lumet mid-Seventies touchstones Dog Day Afternoon and Network.
Channeling everything from “Network” to “Dog Day Afternoon,” Foster and her writers, Jamie Linden, Jim Kouf, and Alan DiFiore, try to expand this tinny little suspense plot into a Statement with a capital S about corporate corruption and the nefariousness of Wall Street.
What promises to be a ripped-from-the-headlines drama with comic undertones, a throwback to such 70s gems as Dog Day Afternoon and Network, instead turns out to be too farfetched to gain any traction — it's ripped from the headlines, all right, but only the type one might see gracing the front of the National Enquirer.
Money Monster steals looks from Chayefsky’s Network, although the former’s depiction of a buffoonish cable-news show is too plausible to qualify as satire.
For the most part, it feels airlifted in from the last decade, not a Network update for the Occupy age so much as a sibling to Foster-led thrillers like Flightplan and Panic Room with ambitions of relevance but few distinguishing characteristics.
Since it takes place largely on a live television show, it recalls both "Network" and "Broadcast News."
Roberts’ and Clooney’s easy interplay is enjoyable to watch – though their earpiece interactions aren’t a patch on Holly Hunter’s handling of William Hurt in James L. Brooks’ far sharper news satire Broadcast News.
In short, it's a mixture of the recent (and fabulous) dramedy "The Big Short" with Dustin Hoffman's terrific 1970s thriller "Dog Day Afternoon" by way of "Broadcast News."
When the film swerves from updating Dog Day Afternoon and Network and becomes Broadcast News with a gun to its head, the shift registers as part of a bait and switch.
Not nearly as powerful as last year’s “The Big Short,” Jodie Foster’s fourth outing behind a feature film camera is a solid comedic thriller with elements of “Network (1976)” and “Dog Day Afternoon (1075).”
Unlike last year’s “The Big Short,” “Money Monster’s” skewering of the financial industry is too superficial to draw any real blood, but it arrives at an unusually relevant historical juncture.
Unlike, say, “The Big Short,” “ Money Monster ” is not offering explanation or catharsis.
The movie, like last year’s “99 Homes” and “The Big Short,” has an identifiable appeal as it shines a light on corporate greed and the widening gap between the rich and poor.
Cross “Dog Day Afternoon’’ with “The Big Short’’ and throw in a dash of “Network’’ and you’ve got “Money Monster,’’ a clever financial thriller with comic overtones that’s a solid investment of your time thanks to stellar work by George Clooney and Julia Roberts.
We could definitely use an old-fashioned, character-driven drama about the aftermath of the financial crisis right about now, something larger than life but close to the bone, a big-time movie with movie stars and a satirical edge and its heart on its sleeve in the spirit of “Network” or “The King of Comedy.”
The problem is that Money Monster , which at times evokes both The King of Comedy and Network, doesn’t push hard enough to keep its focus on the abstract, systemic problem that sets the movie in motion–a financial market that, even in a boom (or, as the case is these days, not), seems perilously close to being a bubble ready to pop.
It’s “Dog Day Afternoon” meets “Network” meets “Inside Man” meets “The King of Comedy” and that’s far too many “meets” to strike an original cord.
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The threat of heavy-handed messaging is always within grasp, yet Foster averts this trap; she makes salient points by trusting her actors and the power of cinematographer Matthew Libatique's (2012's " Ruby Sparks ") images without spelling anything out or falling into melodrama.
In an excellent supporting turn, Caitriona Balfe (2013's " Now You See Me ") owns her role as IBIS CCO Denise Lester, whose investigation into her company's stock collapse reveals dirty dealings happening right under her nose.An undeniably commercial picture with something deeper on its mind than mere entertainment (although it is quite entertaining), "Money Monster" demonstrates how to tell a straightforward story with expert precision.