Dumb Money

 Film and television director Craig Gillespie's Dumb Money is a spirited companion to Adam McKay's The Big Short (2015) as it recounts the phenomenal climb of the price of stock for video game and accessories retailer Game Stop and the response of Wall Street insiders to the threat the stock's success posed to their lucrative short positions, that is, they were betting on Game Stop's failure as more video gaming moved online.

Leading the charge for Game Stop stock was Massachusetts financial analyst and amateur trader Keith Gill (Paul Dano), who through his YouTube channel Roaring Kitty inspired the unprecedented bull run by others fired up by Gill's unvarnished deliver and transparency.

The screenplay by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, based on the book by Ben Mezrich, covers a lot of ground as it tracks Gill's journey with Game Stop, a handful of inexperienced traders from all walks (America Ferrera, Myha'la Herrold, Anthony Ramos, Talia Ryder) and the hedge-fund brokers (Seth Rogen, Vincent D'Onofrio, Nick Offerman) who were betting on Game Stop's financial collapse.

"Dumb Money," a disparaging term that refers to the capital managed by amateurs, does not have The Big Short's cheekiness but it does have the earlier film's anti-greed ethos and the added kick of a fully extended middle finger to billionaire schemers who shut out the common person and those who allow them to do so.