Dumb Moneyis a new addition to the “financial true story”film genre. LikeThe Big Short,Wall Street, andMoneyball, the film plays like a fable of the rich vs. the poor. It is a story of “good vs. evil,” where thegood guys won. Based on the true story, it follows a group of outsider investors from the Reddit page r/WallStreetBets. Led by Keith Gill (Paul Dano), this follows their short squeeze on two hedge funds that had bet certain stocks (like GameStop) would fail. What follows is the beginning of a digital movement. The “prelude” of the film begins with a panicked financial analyst, Gabe Plotkin (Seth Rogen), getting called by cohort Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio) to “Dial in" to a weird stock craze.
The story begins with Gill coming home to his wife, Caroline (Shailene Woodley), and daughter to begin his livestream. His stream begins with a classic red bandanna and tiger t-shirt as he discusses a stock he finds interesting. This is being listened to by a variety of other characters of different social classes. Each class varies from struggling college students Harmony (Talia Ryder), Riri (Myha’la Herrold), GameStop employees, Marcus (Anthony Ramos) and his manager Brad (Dane DeHaan), and a nurse during COVID-19, Jenny (America Ferrera). The film’s beginning follows these different groups and their massive increases in wealth.
The People Win… At First
Keith Gill’s YouTube channel “Roaring Kitty” is getting a massive increase in popularity. He began to garner a devoted following of viewers, who responded to how he simplified information. Characters like Jenny, Harmony, Riri, and Marcus discover “Roaring Kitty,” and his Investment methods are a massive success, and they enjoy going against “the man.” They continuously follow Keith as he tells his followers he is holding onto his stock. Their continued holdings begin to scare the firms, Particularly thelate Melvin Capital.
Gabe (Rogen) is still in denial about the message board’s success. In fact, the board’s response creates room fora hilarious scrambleto keep his money. Gill’s income from the stock is so big that it has a massive surge in popularity among other users. Instead of simply teaching people about stocks, he is teaching them about fighting the powers that be. This puts loyalty in the followers, who agree with his beliefs, and helps him turn into a social media star. Each character comes to the concept of stocks as an opportunity for a way out. Most of them manage to succeed and get themselves out of debt.
The people’s rise to power did not go unnoticed by the bigger firms. Companies like Citadel Securities, run by Ken Griffin (Nick Offerman), begin to be impressed by Gabe’s actions, who is tied up in the debacle. He is a private partner in Robinood, run by founders Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota). As the movement grows, Gill encourages them to hold their investments. This hold makes Gabe eager to invest more within GME (GameStop). These people’s actions face a moral quandary, especially when the system fights back.
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The System Fights Back
Gill and the other “Roaring Kitty” followers have another live stream to determine what is happening to the stock. They maintain their “hold” of the stock, much to the chagrin of the financiers. When this hold continues, Gabe sees this battle as a risk to his wealth. Whereas the RobinHood board is faced with SEC complaints and the mass media themselves. Meanwhile, the r/WallStreetBets board is maintaining momentum,showing the rigged systemat play. That is until RobinHood makes a last-ditch effort to freeze user accounts to prevent the stock hold.
Dumb Money’ssecond half becomes a similarlytoned film toThe Big Short. Except this time, it’s the big rich who are getting worried. This is when the Robinhood platform begins halting trades on the app. In order to cover their debts, blocking the stock trade is the most logical option (to pay their SEC debts). The blockage leaves the r/WallStreetBets board in a state of disarray and uncertainty. Things go from bad to worse for Keith as he gets served walking into his home. Everyone’s actions begin to fall under scrutiny from the SEC (US Securities and Exchange Commotion), and an investigation begins.
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Every character has to deal with the panic of these legal proceedings. The only difference is that the Wall Street magnates lose. Some, like Steve Cohen and Ken Griffin, manage to get out with a slap on the wrist. Robin Hood founders Vlad Tenev (Sebastian Stan) and Baiju Bhatt (Rushi Kota) essentially lost control of their company.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street bet community emerges victoriously in their legal plight, with Keith still holding his shares. He had to testify against Congress and managed to prove his innocence. Thanks to the help of practicing the trial with his brother Kevin (Pete Davidson) and Caroline. The film ends with Keith returning to where we first meet him earlier in the movie. He goes back to run the local track in an attempt to get back to normalcy in his life.
