Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Dumb Money review says that if you liked The Big Short, you’ll love this David and Goliath accounting of how little Main Streeters beat billionaire Wall Streeters and changed the way stocks are traded.

Warning: The more sensitive among you will probably be shocked and aggravated by the music playing behind the opening montage in Dumb Money.  It’s Cardi B’s WAP, an acronym for something I can’t even bare to post. But if you can just get past that and the rest of the salty language, you’re in for a gritty, informative and outrageous take on a financial phenomena that took place during the pandemic.

Based on the non-fiction book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich and directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, I, Tonya, Cruella), Dumb Money is a comedic drama based on the true story of the GameStop stock blowup that happened during the pandemic. It may have passed under your radar because you had a few other things to worry about at the time.

In essence, a group of every day investors lead by the nerdy and sincere Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty” (Paul Dano), drove up the stock price of mall video game store GameStop so high that the little guys made millions, while the hedge fund billionaires who shorted the stock lost their shirts.

If you don’t understand stock trading terms like ‘short,’ ‘short squeeze,’ ‘tendies’ ‘diamond hands’ and ‘dumb money,’ fear not. The film sort of explains them all, most importantly ‘dumb money,’ which is the money invested by us common folk, rather than the giganto hedge funders.

‘Dumb money’ is a term obviously coined by the fat cats at the big investment institutions, playing on the idea that retail investors are too naive (read: stupid) to understand the intricacies of the stock market, and will therefore lose on the stock trades they fund with their own ‘dumb money.’

We see the rapid fire escapades of those involved on all sides: Seth Rogan, Nick Offerman and Vincent D’Onofrio play big cheese billionaire hedge funders. America Ferrera and Anthony Ramos are the small time investors. Shailene Woodley is Roaring Kitty’s supportive wife, and Pete Davidson is his hapless brother. They’re all loads of fun to watch.

As is the entire film. Sure, Dumb Money is rife with F-bombs and other unapologetically raunchy expressions that are likely to shock most people over 40, but if you can endure that, you just might learn something, and laugh all the way to the bank.

Warning: The language in their trailer is not for the tender-hearted.

Rated R

1 hour, 44 minutes

If this Dumb Money review makes you want to invest in the gas it takes to get you to the cineplex, find times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Dumb Money review says that if you liked The Big Short, you’ll love this David and Goliath accounting of how little Main Streeters beat billionaire Wall Streeters and changed the way stocks are traded.