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Money Monster (2016), R, ★★1/2

Look, the guy from Unbroken is waving a gun.
The stock market is a very tricky topic to cover because most stocks rise or plummet due to what is going on in each industry regarding commodities such as gold, oil and others. With Jodie Foster at the helm as director, she's a very interesting choice considering the filmography she has helmed and of course, she is a talented Oscar-winning actress. From her work such as the underrated Nell and Home for the Holidays and overambitious but unsatisfying The Beaver despite a courageous performance from Mel Gibson, her next project proves that she is versatile still but the movie turns into some sort of mess that a monster made in the last third that we believe that the phony resolution is what it is all about.

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is the host of the financial show, "Money Monster". His guest and the CEO of the corporation called Ibis, Walt Camby (Dominic West) is unable to comment regarding his company since he's out of the country. Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts) is the director of the show and even she is getting tired of Lee's smug behavior, she is taking a new job across the street unbeknownst to him.

Once he is about to interview Ibis' COO Diane Lester (Caitriona Balfe), a supposed deliveryman (Jack O'Connell) walks across the stage and when Lee notices him and Patty orders the cameras to be put on him, the deliveryman takes the gun out of the package and when Lee jokingly comments that it is a "union thing", the young kid shoots the gun and orders Lee to put on the bomb vest. Captain Powell (Giancarlo Esposito), the police and Patty learn that the deliveryman's name is Kyle Budwell and he is upset at Lee because of a bad tip he has presented on the show earlier and lost most of his money. How can this be resolved?

Julia Roberts as the director of the show.
The movie starts promisingly as we know what's going on regarding each role behind the scenes of a television show. It's a nail-biter that takes echoes of three movies: Network, Dog Day Afternoon and a bit of Wall Street that combines all three different takes of what is going on in America regarding the economic times and how it affected people, e.g., Jack O'Connell's character. However, despite a solid foundation and great talent behind the camera and in front of the camera, the movie elevates its tension into a preposterous resolution that we can probably see it coming from far away but we cannot accept the truth.

The performances are fine enough. George Clooney is unable to deliver comedy but is quirky as he plays a smug financial host mostly being narcissistic but not focused on others. I think Julia Roberts does a good job as the responsible director orchestrating Clooney and his staff during the hostage situation and during the show. I praised O'Connell in Unbroken and he was particularly very good for '71 but here, he had to blend in his New York accent which is highly noticeable which he struggles and I could not buy his motivation to kill Clooney and I was not hooked onto his threats.

Jodie Foster has not been in the Hollywood spotlight that much recently but she has a particularly good eye for projects. But, I felt like that there was a missed opportunity with a spotlight of how media and corporate finance works and Clooney's and Roberts' charisma improved the material. However, its light tone does shift narratively and gets a bit confusing and when it gets dark in the third act, the movie becomes absurd and we could care less regarding what will happen. This is a rental at best because of the solid first two-thirds but watch out for the third act.

**1/2


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