“Money Monster” is too preposterous for its own good. Every time it starts to pick up steam and grasp ones attention, it stumbles in its next move and loses its footing. Any time the film gets tense, off-kilter humor defuses the situation. It’s hard to take a thriller seriously when one second it has a gun pointed at someone’s head and is delving into politics, then the next it’s cracking a joke about erectile cream. I didn’t expect to be writing about erectile cream in this review.
The plot is ripe for an intense thriller. Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the host of “Money Monster,” one of those financial advice shows where the host seems to be auditioning for a spot on a sketch show. You know the ones where, to speak to the masses, the host dresses up in lavish outfits, cracks jokes, and makes numerous pop culture references. For Lee, he’s been using this method to get his audience to invest in IBIS. Unfortunately for his audience, IBIS lost eight-hundred million in a day and they’re out significant money. Unfortunately for Lee, one of the stockholders has infiltrated his studio, pointed a gun at his head, and strapped a bomb to his chest.
That stockholder is Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell), who lost all of his money in the IBIS crash. He’s taken Lee Gates and his crew hostage in order to get answers. He believes that the whole system is corrupt and that the top brass are manipulating and stealing from the common folk. The repeated answer of the big loss coming from a glitch sets him off into a rage, which garners sufficient tension.
Here’s the problem with “Money Monster:” every time it garners sufficient tension, it almost always loses it immediately. When Kyle loses his cool and starts shooting his gun off, we feel anxious. When we cut to a gag of the producer sleeping with a woman in a janitor’s closet, all of which is played out on air thanks to a phone call, we laugh (well, we’re supposed to) and lose any worry of damage being done. This tonal whiplash is hard to overcome, especially when most of the humor on display doesn’t connect.
Where the film does excel at, and what I wish Jodie Foster focused on more in her direction, was in its handling of the show’s director, Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts). When the shit hits the fan, she takes action. Patty is doing her best to keep everyone calm and keep Lee alive, all the while trying to get a hold of IBIS CEO Walt Camby (Dominic West). The cat and mouse aspect mixed with the race against time works well, except when it succumbs to the humor. Why does everything in this film feel like the setup for a punchline nobody knew there was a joke for?
Take for instance Patty’s communication with the police. This could be the film’s strongest moments, as we see Patty frantically arguing with the police to save her crew. Instead, the cops act like bumbling fools out of a sitcom, making bets that Kyle is a loser that lives at home with his mother. On top of that, they demand they stay on the PA system after Kyle is upset over this and opens fire once again. The main concern of the police in this situation is to ensure the safety of the hostages; they wouldn’t want to stay on the PA system and continue communicating with Kyle if they knew it would result in civilian death.
Where “Money Monster” also falters is in its commentary on not only politics and finance, but society as well. Foster doesn’t seem to have too strong of an agenda in regard to the upper echelon taking advantage of the middle and lower class, as that itself is just treated as a catalyst for the plot, which is perfectly fine in a thriller such as this. However, when commentary does attempt to be snuck in, such as how society reacts to a high pressure situation, it doesn’t stick due to the film not building up to that enough. If you’re looking for good commentary on the financial crisis, check out “The Big Short,” “99 Homes,” or the Noah Chomsky documentary “Requiem for the American Dream.”
Had Jodie Foster focused her intention solely on making a tightly knit thriller, “Money Monster” could’ve been satisfying. The key performances are strong, with this being the best outing for Julia Roberts in years! Too bad the puzzling need for humor, loose grip, and increasing absurdity prevented the film from being a solid thriller.
Final Rating: C+