I wanted Money Monster to be great since George Clooney and Julia Roberts are two of my (and everyone’s) favorite stars. But, alas, it isn’t.
Money Monster (George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O’Connell, Dominic West) – Like loose lips sinking ships, poor scripts sink movies. Money Monster is a tense film with plenty of star power (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) and a celebrity director in Jodie Foster. But the plot is inane and, worse, it is totally implausible.
Clooney plays Lee Gates, the glib, self-absorbed host of a CNBC-like TV show called Money Monster, where he picks stocks and analyzes the market. Roberts is Patty, his director – the voice in his head/ear – who is leaving the show to join another network. Shortly after the show begins one day, a disgruntled day trader with a gun and an explosive-filled vest infiltrates the set. Kyle wants answers about why he was misled by Gates into investing his deceased mother’s $60,000 in a company whose surefire stock is suddenly in free fall after a “computer glitch.”
As thin as this plot is, the execution is at least that bad. The cops are incompetent. The OJ-like trek down Wall Street is ludicrous. And the quick and easy resolution to the evil doings of the company’s CEO (Dominic West) is maddening.
This film reminded me of an awful film, The Net, a Sandra Bullock-led movie with lots of intrigue that made absolutely no sense. Or perhaps you remember The Negotiator, a well-done film of the same genre that starred Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey. I only wish Money Monster were that good.
I found it interesting that Clooney didn’t direct or write Monster; he and his producing and writing partner, Grant Heslov, only produced. This one is a miss. Maybe if they were more interested in storytelling and less concerned with moralizing about the greed of Wall Street, they might have produced a better film. Plus, Jodie Foster could have done much better. Her record as a director is far spottier than as an actor.
Overall, the acting was just fine. Clooney looks good and is almost credible as the Jim Cramer-like showboat. Roberts essentially sits her way through the whole film as the show’s director. She seems more interested in taking care of the kids these days than starring in films. She probably did this one for her buddy, Clooney. She is America’s sweetheart and we all love to watch her films. But she isn’t enough to carry this one.
You can miss Money Monster but if you decide to see it, you won’t be bored, just disappointed.