Money Monster Movie Review (SPOILERS!)

This has been a very strange experience for me, folks. I had to sleep on this, I had to work my way through every bit of what I've experienced, and now, I'm just sitting here asking myself "How?" How could these top-notch, Oscar-worthy actors say yes to such a nonsensical, absurd, blown-out-of-proportion screenplay? How could Jodie Foster bring her well-constructed style to such a mess of a story? Frankly, there's really only one way I can break this down, and that's to.... Well, break this down. Beyond this paragraph, my review is going to hold major spoilers, as I look at the plot scene-by-scene and attempt to explain why this film doesn't work. But to put it bluntly now: I like the performances, I like the directorial style, and there's a few funny lines every once in a while, but honestly, I'm too baffled by the plot to recommend it. But if you want to see it and you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading from here.

So, the film follows Lee Gates, played by George Clooney, who hosts a show called Money Monster where he looks at different companies and tells viewers which ones are worth investing in. It's an over-the-top show with a lot of dance numbers and sound effects, an amusing bit that reminded me a lot of Mad Money, with Clooney delivering a lot of charisma alongside Julia Roberts as his director, Patty Fenn.

Things get out of hand, though, when a lower-middle-class man named Kyle Budwell, played by Jack O'Connell, walks past security with a gun in his pocket and two bomb vests boxed up (yes, you read that correctly), hops onto the set and holds Lee at gunpoint, forcing him to slip on the vest and let him speak to the world. As it turns out, Kyle invested a $60,000 family inheritance into a corporation called IBIS because Lee said that it would be a better investment than a savings account, and.... uh, I'm sorry, let me put that in a bigger font.....

HE INVESTS $60,000 INTO A COMPANY HE'S NEVER HEARD OF BECAUSE SOME GUY ON TV SAID IT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA AND NOW HE WANTS TO BLAME THE CORPORATION FOR HIS LOSS.

Yeah, starting to see the problem here?

Anyway, it turns out a lot of people lost money investing into IBIS. In fact, $80 million was lost because of a technical glitch in their algorithm... Or so they've been told. Kyle believes there's more to the story than they're being told. In fact, Lee was supposed to interview the CEO of IBIS named Walt Camby, hence why Kyle brought two vests, as he was looking to get answers from both him and Lee. However, Walt couldn't appear as he was still on his plane back from a trip he made overseas. The intensified situation, though, causes the police, as well as the CCO of IBIS, to do some snooping around, as they themselves don't know why everybody's money was lost, and.... Seriously, if you don't see the big (and by big, I mean incredibly obvious) twist by this point, you need to watch more movies.

The majority of the rest of the film is just Kyle and Lee in the studio while Lee is held at gunpoint and the police are trying to work their way in so they can shoot Lee in the liver to take out a receiver on his vest. YES, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY: The police, instead of finding a way to seize and capture Kyle, or shoot his detonator so they can painlessly rescue Lee, decides to shoot him directly to take out a receiver. PROTECTING THE INNOCENT!... Unless they have a bomb strapped to them. On top of that, though, Kyle is kind of aimless in how he handles his weapons. Not only does he handle his gun in a way that makes me think he's drunk, or at least hungover, but his thumb doesn't even stay on the detonator's button. How has he not blown up yet? (More on that later.)
We do get one scene where Kyle's girlfriend is brought on in an attempt to encourage him, only to find out she's more interested in insulting him (because, yeah, that's what you do to a guy with a gun and a bomb), and another scene where Lee tries to prove that the stock system at IBIS isn't broken only to discover it is broken (that was necessary), but for the most part, the film just kinda drags its feet.

So, the CCO, Diane Lester, manages to get ahold of Walt Camby, just in time to track down the guy who designed the algorithm that apparently glitched... Except, according to him, it was impossible for the algorithm to glitch, meaning that, as they say, "there are human fingerprints on this." OOH, SUBLTE FORESHADOWING! On top of that, it turns out Camby made a trip to South Africa without telling anybody. WAIT, I GOT IT, IT WAS COUNT DOOKU! And they find out there's been a worker's strike at a platinum mine in South Africa. WAIT, NO, IT WAS ALIENS!

At this point, Kyle and Lee step out of the studio and head over to the Federal Law building, keeping the police right behind them while the captain refuses to put on a lead vest.... No joke. About halfway to this building, though, Kyle reveals that the bomb isn't really a bomb; it's just some clay blocks with wires attached to them..... Wow, the most menacing thing about this guy, and you just dropped the
ball on it. I guess it makes sense, seeing as how the guy was apparently stupid enough to come on live TV and threaten a celebrity, but we somehow believed that he was smart enough to build a bomb. Hell, his girlfriend from earlier even points out that he could barely hold a screwdriver, and now we're supposed to believe that he could build a bomb?

Anyway, Kyle and Lee finally get into contact with Walt Camby, as they put him on live TV, throw the "bomb" vest onto him (with everyone still believing it's a bomb), and they get him to admit to the truth, revealing the big twist..... Walt Camby invested everyone's money into a South African platinum mine hoping profits would skyrocket when their productivity goes up. However, due to a strike, productivity went way down and the investment was lost. Who could have called that? I'll bet there's some jock out there screaming at the TV calling out both the guy who invested $60,000 into some abstract company that he probably wouldn't have heard of if not for some TV celebrity AND the guy who invested $80 million into a platinum mine in South Africa. But that's okay, I'm sure we can just blame the whole shtick on food stamps.

So, Kyle threatens to release the trigger with the vest on Camby unless he admits that what he did was wrong, and after trying to convince Kyle that he didn't break any laws and that he was just conducting business, Kyle almost releases the trigger before Camby admits that what he did was wrong. Once he admits that, he releases the trigger, Camby reacts in a way that becomes an internet sensation (easily the funniest part of the movie), nobody blows up, and Kyle gets sniped in the chest by a policeman. To be fair, this is the most logical scene that's appeared all throughout this movie.

Money Monster is a case of genuine performances, slick direction, and even a few witty lines here and there being wasted on the most absurd, nonsensical plot imaginable for this concept. In an attempt to be conventional for a modern audience, the story ends up deriving itself of all realism for the sake of thrills and twists. Skip it.

My rating: