Excuse me while I put my feet up, burn one, and bask in the glow of executives getting screwed over by their own hubris. Why am I lounging? I just watched Sony’s trailer for Dumb Money, the Craig Gillespie-directed comedy-drama retelling the GameStop stock debacle that sent several fat cats to their financial ruin. The Dumb Money red-band trailer features Paul Dano as Keith Gill, the financial analyst who invested his life savings into a failing GameStop stock that eventually made him (and others) a millionaire. Gill’s story is a wild one, filled with twists and turns. Gillespie’s new film explores the YouTube sensation’s story, with both sides incurring blowback from a dangerous numbers game.
Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen star alongside Dano in Sony’s Dumb Money red-band trailer. Gillespie directs from a script by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo based on the book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich.
Presented as a David-vs.-Goliath story, Dumb Money investigates how a group of private investors and internet trolls on a Wall Street subreddit called WallStreetBets hoodwinked one of the most formidable hedge funds known to eager investors. The carefully orchestrated attack on the market sent shockwaves through money lenders’ lifeless souls, sewing chaos in an infrastructure that had worked for generations. As a result of the debacle, a handful of first-time traders got stupidly rich, while influential players in the market had their coffers emptied in a matter of moments.
Teddy Schwartzman and Gillespie produce, with Mezrich, Michael Heimler, John Friedberg, Johnny Holland, Schuker Blum, Andrew Swett, Angelo, Kevin Ulrich, and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss executive producing.
I remember the seeds of chaos sewn in real-time when this unprecedented situation unfolded. I won’t pretend to understand the ins and outs of stock trading. However, I enjoy watching billionaires sweat. Sony’s Dumb Money red-band trailer brings Gill’s fascinating story to life in a way that – while heightened for Hollywood storytelling – even people with no stock market knowledge can enjoy.
Dumb Money comes to theaters on September 22, 2023.