Money Monster
Genre : Satire
Director : Jodie Foster
Cast : George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, Caitriona Balfe, Giancarlo Esposito
The official synopsis of Money Monster describes it as a “high-stakes thriller”. The “high-stakes” bit is most probably a pun on the film’s dealings with the stock market. But by calling it a thriller, the studio does something the film would make fun of. In this satirical hostage drama, nothing is holy. Especially the glitzy, fast-talking world of electronic media that’s so busy in mediocrity that it takes an extreme situation to make everyone realise how far they have come from what they are originally supposed to do.
Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a hotshot financial TV host of a widely-watched show about the stock market. But going by his histrionics — with female hip-hoppers on his side, grinning and dancing to a jingle — it is clear that Lee is more of a flashy reality show host than a stock-market analyst. He often exaggerates, without realising how far from truth he may have gone. Until one day — this film shows one day, in cinematic real time — a gunman sneaks in through the backstage and holds Lee hostage. Turns out, the young man called Kyle Budwell (Jack O’Connell) is one of the victims of Lee’s exaggerated advocacy to invest in a certain company.
But money is not what he wants anymore. He demands “answers”. “The real enemy of the American people is not Muslims or the Chinese people but these guys,” he tells the camera.
From here, the film goes where you expect a satire to go. And like all good satires, it never feels out of place, because the world we live in is already full of them. More importantly, it shows us how we all take part in it.
Clooney and O ’Connell, at the centrepiece of the film, play off each other really well. Stuck in a newsroom studio set-up through most of the film, the two, almost seem like actors in a farcical play; from parodies, they unmask themselves into the people they are.
Towards the end, as the scene shifts out on to the streets, it becomes like a 24-hour reality show in public. It reminded me of the brilliant British TV show, Black Mirror , where the public hysteria around a media event is both funny and heartbreaking. But Money Monster is more an outrageous comedy than a hostage drama.
It’s impressive how the film shifts gears between making someone look like a complete idiot to giving him a sense of dignity. There are enough dramatic twists to keep us second-guessing: Kyle’s background, the alleged company’s PR manager and its high-flying CEO, the man in demand.
Jodie Foster’s fourth directorial venture is an entertaining, well-acted film that is mostly funny and sometimes poignant.