Money Monster (2016) George Clooney, Julia Roberts - Directed by Jodie Foster

[pikeman1]

Money Monster (2016)
R | 1h 35min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 13 May 2016 (USA)

In the real-time, high stakes thriller Money Monster, financial TV host Lee Gates (George Clooney) and his producer Patty (Julia Roberts) are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor (Jack O'Connell) takes over their studio.

Director: Jodie Foster
Writers: Jamie Linden (screenplay), Alan DiFiore (screenplay)
Stars: Caitriona Balfe, Julia Roberts, Giancarlo Esposito, George Clooney, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West

[Riddler The Slag]

Looks decent!

[Mrdamron]

I'll bite. George & Julia works for me.

[Will.]

It looks really interesting; I always want Foster to direct more movies.

[spectre08]

I haven't really enjoyed George Clooney for his individual performance since The Men Who Stare at Goats. I hope he gets back in form soon.

[chris_sc77]

Clooney has done a bunch of crap lately (monuments men, gravity, Tomorrowland) so I hope this one is good.

[spectre08]

I've enjoyed a lot of the MOVIES that he's been in, but in all of the instances it was in spite of him, not because of him. For an actor like Clooney, that's not a good sign.

[Canada]

Interview by Ben Mankiewicz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRgayOLQyE

[spanky87]

This was the funniest film of the year so far.

Yeah, it's utterly preposterous at times, especially in the third act, but it's very self aware and brilliantly skewers the zietgiest of today. And despite the comedy it still maintains the tension of the hostage situation throughout. Good work from Jodie Foster there.

Clooney and Roberts mostly interact through an earpiece but their chemistry is still palpable and it was fun to see them together on the big screen again when they do share the frame.

[Mandalorian]

I liked it. Had little interest in seeing it beforehand.

[Talleyrand]

What a strange film! It was definitely hilarious at parts, although I don't think it was all intentionally so. Pretty ridiculous on the whole. I will note that the film did not feel like a socialist's wet dream, so that's good.

[Leonidas King]

So was this better than Jodie's Beaver?

[Samantha]

LOVE Jodie, LOVE George, LOVE Julia (most of the time) so I don't care what reviews say, I will definitely go see this.

[Holmes]

In Jodie Foster's fourth film behind the camera, Money Monster, a wronged small-time investor (Jack O'Connell) enters a television studio with a gun and two bomb vests. He plans to hold flashy financial-television host Lee Gates (George Clooney) and his crew, including a veteran director (Julia Roberts), hostage in order to present his grievances with Wall Street to a national audience. Credit Foster's tight direction and the collective star power of Clooney, O'Connell, Roberts, and absurdly captivating and elegant Outlander star Caitriona Balfe for rendering a slightly flimsy '90s-style suspense film very entertaining. At the end, one notices where it could have dug deeper—Gates' transition from complacent showman-swindler to regretful crusader is more of a screenplay requirement than an organic shift—and where it is a bit pat: the conspiracy in play is too specific and easily unfurled to capture the incorporeal and nearly indecipherable sense of menace conjured by Wall Street in real life. But in motion, as SWAT teams race to and fro and a suave Clooney plays verbal chess with a sweating, wiry O'Connell, it is a chic, crisp, and involving mainstream entertainment.

B

[Buscemi]

I was really disappointed by this one. George and Julia are good but Jodie Foster and the screenwriters try to stuff way too much material into a 98 minute movie (the real time element didn't help). And it fails in its attempt to emulate the films of Sidney Lumet (it makes you just want to watch one of Lumet's films).

But the fatal flaw lays in Jack O'Connell's performance. For one, it's impossible to sympathize with the character. Foster and the writers want the audience to side with the character but he's so moronic half the time and the other half of the time, he sounds like someone who listens to Alex Jones a bit too much. O'Connell had a chance to rise above the weak writing but failed. And there's his horrible attempt at a Queens accent. It sounds like a mix of Boston and Irish actor attempting a Bronx accent. This is another case where not attempting an accent would have been an improvement.

In short, I'd give it a 3/10 and advise you to watch Dog Day Afternoon and Network instead.

[Talleyrand]

Originally Posted by Buscemi

But the fatal flaw lays in Jack O'Connell's performance. For one, it's impossible to sympathize with the character. Foster and the writers want the audience to side with the character but he's so moronic half the time and the other half of the time, he sounds like someone who listens to Alex Jones a bit too much. O'Connell had a chance to rise above the weak writing but failed. And there's his horrible attempt at a Queens accent. It sounds like a mix of Boston and Irish actor attempting a Bronx accent. This is another case where not attempting an accent would have been an improvement.

Yes, I largely agree. The Jack O'Connell character WAS an idiot; the entire plot is apparently driven by his inability to know what hyperbole is.

[hifiHigh]

I'll pass...no one in this film is appealing to me....

[Holmes]

Originally Posted by Talleyrand

Yes, I largely agree. The Jack O'Connell character WAS an idiot; the entire plot is apparently driven by his inability to know what hyperbole is.

Ha ha. This is hilarious and true.

But, in my opinion, O'Connell gives a strong performance nonetheless. In terms of the playing the character as angry, nervous, in-over-his-head, reactionary, etc., he does what he needs to with intensity and conviction. And to its credit, the movie does not strain itself trying to paint him as a TRAGIC HERO the way, say, the movie Mad City does with the John Travolta character or John Q. does with Denzel Washington's character. There are no, you know, cuts to wide-eyed, weeping children watching their poppa on the television.

[Mandalorian]

Kyle being an idiot wasn't a flaw in the film or writing, in my opinion, it was a fresh take of that type of character. I was thrown for a loop when his girlfriend came on. Talk about subverting expectations.

[IndyMLVC]

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Thought it was going to be pretty lame but enjoyed it immensely. I miss movies like these. Hollywood doesn't make enough of them. They're too preoccupied with which minor superhero they can turn into a franchise.