''Dumb Money'' is a 2023 American

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

comedy-drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, illness, betrayal, grief, etc. ...

, directed by

Craig Gillespie Craig Gillespie (born 1 September 1967) is an Australian-American film director, film, television director, television, music video director, music video, and commercial director. He is best known for directing the films ''Lars and the Real Gir ...

and written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. It is based on the 2021 book '' The Antisocial Network'' by

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. He has written well-known non-fiction books, including '' The Accidental Billionaires'' and '' The Antisocial Network'', which have been turned into the films ''The Social Network'' ...

and chronicles the

GameStop short squeeze In January 2021, a short squeeze of the stock of the American video game retailer GameStop and other Security (finance), securities took place, causing major financial consequences for certain hedge funds and large losses for Short (finance), ...

of January 2021. The film features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

that includes

Paul Dano Paul Franklin Dano (; born June 19, 1984) is an American actor. His work includes both independent and mainstream projects, and his accolades include nominations for a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

Pete Davidson Peter Michael Davidson (born November 16, 1993) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He began his career in the early 2010s with minor guest roles on ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', ''Friends of the People'', ''Guy Code'', and ''Wild 'n O ...

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leona ...

America Ferrera America Georgina Ferrera (; born April 18, 1984) is an American actress, director and television producer. She has received List of awards and nominations received by America Ferrera, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golde ...

Nick Offerman Nicholas David Offerman (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor. He became widely known for his role as Ron Swanson in the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'' (2009–2015), for which he received the Television Critics Association Award fo ...

Anthony Ramos Anthony Paul Ramos Martinez (born November 1, 1991) is an American actor and singer. After graduating in musical theater from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, he began performing in stage musicals. In 2015, he originated the dual role ...

Sebastian Stan Sebastian Stan (born August 13, 1982) is a Romania-born American actor. Known for his work in both blockbuster and independent films, his accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Silver Bear, in addition to nominations for an Academy A ...

Shailene Woodley Shailene Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. She first gained prominence for her starring role as Amy Juergens in the ABC Family teen drama series '' The Secret Life of the American Teenager'' (2008–2013). She then starr ...

, and

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic Leading actor, leading man roles in films, the accolades he has received include nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, ...

. After being filmed in New Jersey from October to November 2022, ''Dumb Money'' premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

on September 8, 2023. It was released in the United States by

Sony Pictures Releasing Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group (formerly known as the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group until 2013, and abbreviated as SPMPG) is a division of Sony Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment to manage its motion picture operatio ...

in select theaters on September 15, 2023, and wide release on September 29, 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $20 million worldwide.

Plot

Keith Gill is a middle-class man working as a financial analyst in

Brockton, Massachusetts Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 105,643 at the 2020 United States census. Along with Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, ...

. During his spare time, he regularly frequents the stock market subreddit

r/WallStreetBets r/wallstreetbets, also known as WallStreetBets or WSB, is a subreddit where participants discuss stock and option trading. It has become notable for its colorful jargon, aggressive trading strategies, stories of extreme gains and losses acquire ...

, posting his opinions via YouTube live streams under the name ''Roaring Kitty''. He struggles to provide for his family, and his brother Kevin constantly mocks his YouTube work as nerdy garbage. In July 2020, at the height of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Keith notices that video game retailer

GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer, headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas). The brand is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operated 3,203 stor ...

's stock is falling. He sinks his life savings into buying stock in it, regularly live-streaming updates with his viewers. Despite Kevin and several peers claiming this is a waste of time, by January 2021, activity on r/WallStreetBets reveals that several hedge fund investment firms, including Melvin Capital Management and its founder Gabe Plotkin, have been short selling stock in the chain on the assumption GameStop would close. But, aggressive GameStop stock purchases by Keith and other online stock buyers - including struggling nurse Jennifer, GameStop retail employee Marcos, and lesbian

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

couple Riri and Harmony - caused a mass increase in GameStop's overall stock price. As a result, Plotkin and other investment CEOs lost hundreds of millions of dollars within the same time frame. Keith is heralded as a financial guru. Things take a turn when r/WallStreetBets is temporarily shut down for "inflammatory and vulgar content", causing a mass surge of panic selling in GameStop's stock in an attempt to beat a perceived price drop. When the commission-free stock trading website Robinhood is unable to pay the money for the sales adequately, co-chairman Vlad Tenev, at the behest of

Citadel LLC Citadel LLC (formerly known as Citadel Investment Group, LLC) is an American multinational hedge fund and financial services company. Founded in 1990 by Kenneth Griffin, it has more than $65 billion in assets under management . The company has ...

owner Ken Griffin, halts all purchasing of GameStop's stock until Robinhood shores up adequate capital to cover outstanding NSCC requirements created due to the level of purchases. They raise the $3–4 billion necessary, but the subsequent negative backlash results in an investigation by the

United States House Committee on Financial Services The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the United States congressional committee, committee of the United States ...

, with Tenev, Griffin, Plotkin, and Keith all being subpoenaed, the former three for their roles in the fiasco and the latter on suspicion of using the situation to trick the public into making himself rich. As the investors struggle to defend their actions, Keith adamantly denies any wrongdoing, stating he was only doing what anyone with a passing awareness of investment banking would do in that situation. In the aftermath, post text shows how several of the individuals were affected: Plotkin was forced to shut down Melvin Capital because of the net losses the incident caused; Robinhood was the target of several lawsuits following the fiasco and wound up starting in the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

significantly lower than it was prior; Harmony was able to use the money she obtained to pay off her family's debt issues and continues her relationship with Riri; Marcos sold half of his GameStop stock and quit his position in the company; Jennifer remains in debt but has retained her shareholding; Keith retired from YouTube in late April to get out of the public eye and sold part of his stocks to get Kevin an expensive car as a way to stop his nagging about how he will not loan him his car for his food deliveries.

Cast

Production

Development

In January 2021, it was announced that

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American film and television production and distribution company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. Metro ...

(MGM) had bought the rights to a book proposal by

about the then-recent

, entitled '' The Antisocial Network'', with producers

Michael De Luca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. He is also the former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks. De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Aw ...

—who also produced ''

The Social Network ''The Social Network'' is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2009 book '' The Accidental Billionaires'' by Ben Mezrich. It portrays the founding of social networkin ...

'' (2010), the film adaptation of Mezrich's book ''

The Accidental Billionaires ''The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal'' is a 2009 book by Ben Mezrich about the founding of Facebook, adapted by Aaron Sorkin for the 2010 film ''The Social Network''. Co-founder Edua ...

''—and

Aaron Ryder Aaron Ryder is an American film producer. Early in his career, he was an executive producer of Christopher Nolan's '' Memento'' (2000) and Richard Kelly's ''Donnie Darko'' (2001), and also produced Nolan's '' The Prestige'' (2006). Ryder was ...

attached. In May 2021, Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo were announced to write the screenplay, with Cameron and

Tyler Winklevoss Tyler Howard Winklevoss (born August 21, 1981) is an American investor, founder of Winklevoss Capital Management and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange and former Olympic rower. Winklevoss co-founded HarvardConnection (later renamed ConnectU) ...

(who were subjects in ''The Accidental Billionaires'' and ''The Social Network'') executive producing through their Winklevoss Pictures banner. In April 2022,

signed on as director, with the intention of filming to start later that year around summer or fall. In September, it was announced that the film was retitled to ''Dumb Money'', and production was set to commence in October, with De Luca and MGM dropping out, while

Black Bear Pictures Black Bear Pictures is an American media company that develops, produces and finances original content for film and television. Black Bear is based in Santa Monica, California. Since its 2011 launch, Black Bear's slate has grossed over $300,000,0 ...

acquired financing and sought buyers at the annual

. In October 2022,

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

bought distribution rights to the film in the United States, Latin America, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, South Africa and select Asian countries including India for $20 million.

Casting

In September 2022,

and

were set to star; Rogen and Stan previously collaborated with Gillespie on the miniseries ''

Pam & Tommy ''Pam & Tommy'' is a 2022 American biographical drama television miniseries chronicling the marriage between actress and model Pamela Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, played by Lily James and Sebastian Stan, respectively, during t ...

'' (2022), with Stan also having starred in Gillespie's film ''

I, Tonya ''I, Tonya'' is a 2017 American biographical sports film directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Steven Rogers. It follows the life and career of American figure skater Tonya Harding and her connection to the 1994 assault on her rival Nan ...

'' (2017). The following month,

Dane DeHaan Dane William DeHaan ( ; born 1985 or 1986) is an American actor. His roles include Andrew Detmer in ''Chronicle'' (2012), Jason Glanton in '' The Place Beyond the Pines'' (2012), Lucien Carr in '' Kill Your Darlings'' (2013), Harry Osborn / Gre ...

, Myha'la Herrold,

, Rushi Kota,

, and

Talia Ryder Talia Ryder (born August 16, 2002) is an American stage and film actress. She made her feature film debut as Skylar in Eliza Hittman's critically acclaimed independent drama film '' Never Rarely Sometimes Always'' (2020) earning her nominations ...

joined the cast.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

occurred in New Jersey from October to November 2022. Filming was done in

Morris Morris may refer to: Places Australia * St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia Canada * Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry * Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba ** Morris, Man ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

and

Hudson Hudson may refer to: People * Hudson (given name) * Hudson (surname) * Hudson (footballer, born 1986), Hudson Fernando Tobias de Carvalho, Brazilian football right-back * Hudson (footballer, born 1988), Hudson Rodrigues dos Santos, Brazilian f ...

counties, with scenes filmed at

Saint Elizabeth University Saint Elizabeth University (SEU) (formerly College of Saint Elizabeth, CSE) is a private Catholic university in Morris Township, New Jersey, United States. Portions of the campus are also in Florham Park. SEU offer 25 undergraduate degree prog ...

Challenges

Most of the characters in the film wore masks during the

and never met in real life. To bring them together without physical proximity, writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo drew inspiration from screenwriter

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

and films such as ''The Social Network''. The result was a technical drama in the tradition of ''

Moneyball Moneyball or money ball may refer to: * '' Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'', 2003 book by Michael Lewis ** ''Moneyball'' (film), 2011 film adaptation of the book * ''Moneyball'' (album), 2025 album by Dutch Interior * Sabermetrics ...

'' (2011) and ''

The Big Short ''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' is a nonfiction book by Michael Lewis about the build-up of the United States housing bubble during the 2000s. It was released on March 15, 2010, by W. W. Norton & Company. It spent 28 weeks on '' ...

'' (2015) but centered around Internet populism, as if Capra's Mr. Smith had gone to

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

Music

Composed by Will Bates, the soundtrack was released on September 22, 2023.

Release

''Dumb Money'' premiered at the

on September 8, 2023, with the cast unable to attend due to the

2023 SAG-AFTRA strike From July 14 to November 9, 2023, the American actors' union SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike over a labor dispute with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Pro ...

. It was released theatrically in the United States by

under the

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

and

Stage 6 Films Stage 6 Films, Inc. is an American film division of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions that acquires and produces feature films to be released either theatrically, on demand, or through streaming services. Once a film is finished, Sony Picture ...

labels, while Sony, Black Bear International and other local distributors released it internationally. The film was initially set to be distributed by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer (MGM). A release date of October 20, 2023, was initially announced, before being moved up to September 22, 2023. It was later changed to a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on September 15, 2023, before expanding to a wide release on September 29, 2023. ''Dumb Money'' was released on digital platforms on November 7, followed by a

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

release on December 12.

Reception

Box office

''Dumb Money'' has grossed $13.9 million in the United States and Canada and $6.8 million in other territories, for a total of $20.7 million worldwide. In the United States and Canada, ''Dumb Money'' was released alongside '' A Haunting in Venice'' and made $229,947 from eight theaters in its opening weekend. Expanding to 616 theaters in its second weekend, the film made $2.4 million, finishing in eighth. In its third weekend the film made $3.3 million from 2,837 theaters, finishing in seventh. It then made $2.1 million and $930,000 in the subsequent two weekends.

Critical response

Accolades

References

External links

* * * *
Dumb Money
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