The Big Short tells the story of the housing market collapse of 2008 and how some people predicted and gained riches off of it. I did not understand the complicated banking jargons in the film but that did not take me out of the movie (except perhaps at the start) once I immersed myself into the acting. Christian Bale was unrecognizable as an awkward and somewhat genius Michael Burry who does all the calculations to predict the collapse. He was the standout performer for me and has this ability to disappear into a role. I grew into Steve Carell's acting as the movie went on especially towards the third act. I felt Adam McKay's Anchorman style directing in the movie which was entertaining but not as much as Wolf of Wall Street both of which have Wall Street at the center of the plot. I liked the cuts to famous celebrities at different times in the movie to explain especially tough technical finance terms especially Margot Robbie's which was a pleasant surprise considering her role in Wolf of Wall Street.
And this is where it I felt a bit left out as the terms were too complex to understand sometimes. The random explanatory scenes especially Margot Robbie's in a bubble bath were to made for the audiences to find the boring topic interesting but I still found it a little difficult to grasp. The movie for the most part plays on the idea that the meltdown would be caused due to the cluelessness of the banks but Steve's character (Mark Baum) later realizes that it could be a well thought out plot on the part of them so it gets more complicated to understand the resolution if there was any in the movie.
On the positive side, the movie does a great job in showing the panic and the extent of damage this collapse caused and how many people were affected and I felt sad watching it. An excellent movie.