Dumb money shines light on the misunderstood GameStop short squeeze that took place in 2021. Graphic provided by Sony Pictures Entertainment | THE ALL STATE
One of the latest films to hit the Netflix streaming service is one of the most underrated dramadies to come from Sony’s catalogs over the last few years. The film, ‘Dumb Money’ was based on the true story of the GameStop short squeeze that took place in 2021 and the movement against Wall Street that resulted. It focuses on Keith Gill (played by Paul Dano), the regular guy who was one of the first to dump his money into GameStop’s stock and became famous for doing so under his YouTube handle ‘Roaring Kitty.’
It seems like most “based on a true story” movies are about events that happened before most of us were alive, or at least when we were too young to remember it. ‘Dumb Money’ did something different, taking us back to a memory from only a few years ago. Not that nostalgic, right?
Wrong. ‘Dumb Money’ perfectly captured the Reddit meme culture, ‘Eat the rich’ dialogue and reality of everyday people like ourselves who witnessed ‘GameStonk’ firsthand back in 2021 when COVID-19 was still gripping the headlines. For something that happened less than three years ago, the film’s depiction of these events brought the audience right back to them like it was yesterday, successfully highlighting how much has changed since then and making it feel like it was way more than three years ago.
That nostalgia was perhaps the strongest attribute of the film, which is saying something because it was an enjoyable movie all around.
It’s cast certainly didn’t hurt the it, either. It boasted one of the most random and most stacked casts I’ve seen in a while, with the likes of Paul Dano, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogan, Pete Davidson, Sebastian Shaw, Vincent D’Onofrio, Nick Offerman, Dane DaHaan, Clancy Brown and America Ferrera.
As a whole, the movie brought audiences to a time that is extremely familiar to us, captivating us the with comedic and well-written take on the major and minor players of the ‘GameStonk’ fiasco and reminding us of how much we should hate Robinhood.
If you have Netflix, ‘Dumb Money’ is definitely the movie to watch. Just be warned: You might feel a sudden urge to get into the stock market as soon as you finish. It happens to the best of us.
