The Big Short

Based on Michael Lewis's 2010 bestseller The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, filmmaker Adam McKay's multi-Oscar-nominated film centers on a quartet of financial players who saw the subprime mortgage meltdown of 2008 coming. Starting in 2005, this grimly comic drama revolves around two antisocial money managers. Scion Capital's bohemian Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) predicts that the mortgage market has become a Ponzi scheme that is doomed to fail. Burry buys millions of dollars of specially created financial instruments that will pay off huge if the subprime market collapses. Also chasing this scenario are perpetually rude Mark Baum (Steve Carell) in New York, and two ambitious younger guys (Finn Wittrock, John Magaro), who enlist the advice of an ex-broker (Brad Pitt) on their quest to get rich quick. Serving as the audience's guide to the upcoming apocalypse is cynical Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling). Boasting a strong supporting cast that includes Melissa Leo, Rafe Spall, and Marisa Tomei, The Big Short will confuse some with its technical financial language (despite being delivered by Margot Robbie drinking champagne in a bubble bath, among other scenarios), but many will enjoy this sharp satirical look at Wall Street chicanery. [Note: Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes featurettes “In the Trenches: Casting” (16 min.), “The House of Cards: The Rise of the Fall” (14 min.), “The Big Leap: Adam McKay” on the director (12 min.), “Unlikely Heroes: The Characters” (12 min.), and “Getting Real: Recreating an Era” (11 min.), as well as deleted scenes (7 min.), trailers, and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this Oscar winner.] (S. Granger)