Well, there we have it. I’ve now seen all eight of this year’s Best Picture nominees.

First of all, this movie is primarily a comedy. And it’s also very self-aware. Which isn’t what you would normally see in this type of story, which actually makes it quite refreshing.

Especially since the movie is about stocks and bonds and a lot of the time gets wrapped up in it’s own dialogue. And when the characters are doing all the technical terms, there are moments when Gosling’s character will note that we probably have no idea what’s going on, and he brings in a celebrity cameo to explain it. Those moments are the highlight of the movie for me.

While I think that Spotlight is a better movie than this, I think the direction on this movie is better. Adam McKay made the right choice by making this a comedy, and there’s some great editing to help it along, in fact I think the editing is this film’s greatest asset.

I appreciate the performances, although no one is really that amazing. And with such a large cast, It’s disappointing that there couldn’t be more women or people of color in the ensemble.

The Big Short is no masterpiece, but it is better than most Oscar bait true story films. I appreciate it if you liked the movie, and it was well made. It just wasn’t exactly my cup of tea.

****