Dumb Money is upcoming comedy drama starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen, Taila Ryder, Sebastian Stan, America Ferrera, Dane DeHaan, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos and Vincent D’Onofrio. The film is directed by Craig Gillespie who is responsible for films like I, Tonya, Cruella, Lars and the Real Girl, etc. Dumb Money made its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 8, with the premise,
“Everyday people flip the script on Wall Street and get rich by turning GameStop into one of the world’s hottest companies. In the middle of everything is Keith Gill, a regular guy who starts it all by sinking his life savings into the stock. When his social media posts start blowing up, so does his life and the lives of everyone following him. As a stock tip becomes a movement, everyone gets wealthy — until the billionaires fight back and both sides find their worlds turned upside down.”
After garnering critical acclaim at TFF, the film is now headed for release to theatres this weekend. Sony moved the wide release date for Dumb Money up to Friday, September 29 from its previous date of October 6 in order to avoid the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Theater takeover on October 13. So, is the film any good? Let’s what the critics have to say.
Dumb Money Reviews Are Extremely Positive!
Kevin Maher {Times (UK)} – “Sounds dry and simplistic, but the script from Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo is vivid and visceral, and somehow brings the stultifying grimness of that central pandemic time block back to painful life.” Original Score: 4/5
Wendy Ide {Observer (UK)} – “While the film might have slightly defanged its depiction of the users of the subreddit r/wallstreetbets… it is undeniably perceptive about the insidious influence of social media as a whole.” Original Score: 3/5
Sara Michelle Fetters (MovieFreak.com) – “Dumb Money is Gill’s Campbell-esque hero’s journey, and thanks to Dano, it’s one I’m very glad I went on.” Original Score: 3/4
James Berardinelli (ReelViews) – “It’s not a bad way to spend a couple of hours, keeping in mind that this fairy tale, like most, has only a tenuous link to reality.” Original Score: 3/4
Peter Travers (ABC News) – “Paul Dano excels in this true tale of how little-guy investors took down billionaire Wall Streeters. Call it a slapstick tragedy with a windfall of laughs.”
Brian Lowry (CNN.com) – “Paul Dano heads a sprawling cast as the guy leading the rebels with pitchforks on behalf of GameStop, resulting in a film that’s smart and satisfying enough to earn every dollar it makes.”
Christy Lemire (Breakfast All Day) – “Comparisons The Big Short are inevitable, because it is kind of covering similar, complicated territory… but [director Craig Gillespie] makes it accessible.” Original Score: 7.7/10
Alonso Duralde (Breakfast All Day) – “There are things about this that I like, but I don’t know that it all works.” Original Score: 6.5/10
Manuel Betancourt (AV Club) – “Smart, playful, and perhaps efficient to a fault… Gillespie’s latest is an enraging David vs. Goliath, ripped-from-the-headlines tale that deserves to be seen to be believed.” Original Score: B
Linda Marric (The Jewish Chronicle) – “Engaging and robustly acted.” Original Score: 4/5
Tim Robey {Daily Telegraph (UK)} – “In trying to pretend a blip was a seismic revolution, the film winds up distinctly strained, and more depressing than it quite knows.” Original Score: 2/5
Kyle Smith (Wall Street Journal) – “There’s a more interesting, less strident film under the surface, but it never manages to get out.”
Barry Hertz (Globe and Mail) – “The middle-class tensions are impressively stretched to the brink by Dano and Woodley, two committed performers who grip onto the meaning behind the meme-ery.”
Helen O’Hara (Time Out) – “There is, perhaps, a little too much bouncing around between stories, and not all the plot threads land powerfully – Pete Davidson as Gill’s layabout brother doesn’t add much – but Gillespie makes elegant points without resorting to cartoon villainy.” Original Score: 4/5
Alejandra Martinez (Austin Chronicle) – “Dumb Money is entertaining, even with its shortcomings.” Original Score: 2.5/5
Danny Leigh (Financial Times) – “A headline achievement for the film is simply getting made this quickly. The price is the ragged sense of historical first draft. For now, it’s probably enough to raise a broad smile at our rolling chaos.” Original Score: 3/5
Mark Kennedy (Associated Press) – “The little guy — or at least the little guy with a few hundred bucks to sink into the stock market — gets a movie to cheer with Dumb Money.” Original Score: 3/4
Adam Graham (Detroit News) – “It’s a pretty cool underdog story, nothing less, but it unfortunately misses its opportunity to plant its flag in the ground and be about something more.” Original Score: B
Dominic Baez (Seattle Times) – “Prone to righteous anger and group mentality, and forever immersed in the bluish glow of cellphones. But it also highlights how, especially during the turbulent times of COVID, social media could be a lifeline, a way to connect with other people.” Original Score: 3/4
Mick LaSalle (San Francisco Chronicle) – “Such a David and Goliath story is a natural for movies, but “Dumb Money” is more than the kind of inevitable film that follows every notable public occurrence like a reaction in physics.” Original Score: 3/4
Since signing a deal that took effect in 2022, all Sony Pictures films will begin streaming Netflix during the pay-one window following its run in theaters. Most of Sony’s movies move to Netflix around 120 days after their initial opening:
- Uncharted – February 18, 2022 – August 5, 2022 (168 days)
- Morbius – April 1, 2022 – September 7, 2022 (159 days)
- Father Stu – April 13, 2022 – September 16, 2022 (156 days)
- Where the Crawdads Sing – July 15, 2022 – November 12, 2022 (120 days)
- Bullet Train – August 5, 2022 – December 3, 2022 (120 days)
- Lyle, Lyle Crocodile – October 7, 2022 – February 4, 2023 (120 days)
- A Man Called Otto – December 29, 2022 – May 6, 2023 (129 days)
- 65 – March 10, 2023 – July 8, 2023 (120 days)
So, keeping up with the trends, Dumb Money will hit Netflix late January 2024. Dumb Money is releasing in most theatres near you on September 29th, 2023.
If you have any questions regarding Dumb Money, feel free to ask in the comments below. For more content, stay tuned. As usual, like, subscribe and share our articles as we here are trying to build a community of people High on Cinema!
