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MONEY MONSTER

"A Silly, Unrealistic Financial Thriller"

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What You Need To Know:

MONEY MONSTER is a financial thriller directed by Jodie Foster. It stars George Clooney as a financial personality on TV who’s taken hostage by a desperate man who lost everything to the stock market. The man, Kyle, insists the hostage situation be aired on TV for the whole world to see, so Lee’s director, Patty, played by Julia Roberts, does her best job to direct. As the situation grows more tense, Lee and Patty begin to piece together a conspiracy that resulted in Kyle losing all of his money.

MONEY MONSTER could have been an interesting thriller, but it’s sadly plagued by ridiculous plot holes and illogical premises. Expecting the audience to side with a financially irresponsible terrorist, MONEY MONSTER fails to be an effective thriller or drama. Ultimately, the movie is morally relativistic and presents a poorly constructed argument against capitalism. George Clooney and Julia Roberts and all their fine acting can’t save the movie’s terrible script. Add in the fact that the movie has a staggering amount of obscenities and profanities, and MONEY MONSTER is dull, offensive and worth avoiding.

Content:

(HHH, PCPCPC, AcapAcapAcap, LLL, VV, SS, N, A, DD, MMM) Very strong humanist, moral relativistic, politically correct, anti-capitalist worldview where viewers are expected to empathize with a terrorist over a thieving CEO, instead of showing both sides as immoral; at least 103 obscenities (including 62 uses of the “f” word) and 43 profanities (including many strong profanities misusing Christ’s name and GD), plus a man is seen sitting on a toilet; strong violence and threats of violence includes man holds people hostage with a gun and bomb, man accidentally shoots an innocent person in the arm, man is punched; depicted fornication, silhouette of a man and woman kissing in a shower but no explicit nudity, man discusses an erectile cream, man says to “put it away” over the phone in reference to his private parts; upper male nudity; light drinking; brief depicted drug use; and, very strong miscellaneous immorality includes greed, stealing, lying, deceit, man says “hand to God,” and terrorism is justified and excused.

More Detail:

MONEY MONSTER is a thriller directed by Jodie Foster, and starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts about a financial TV advisor being taken hostage by a desperate man who lost everything to the stock market. It’s also one of the silliest, most far-fetched movies in recent years.

Lee Gates (George Clooney) is a TV personality who offers stock and financial advice on his over-the-top show “Money Monster.” His director, Patty Fenn (Julia Roberts), has been his biggest partner for years, but she’s getting ready to start a new job at another network. In the middle of a live segment, a man with a gun jumps onstage and starts shooting, taking Lee hostage. He tells Patty to keep the cameras going so everyone can see, or else he’ll shoot Lee, so she obliges him.

Lee tries to figure out what the man wants. After asking some prodding questions, he finds out that the man, Kyle (Jack O’Connell), lost every dollar on a stock investment Lee said was safe. The company that took a nosedive and blamed the sudden drop on a computer glitch in an algorithm, or at least that’s what the CEO is claiming. Kyle’s not having any of it and believes someone is responsible for all the money he and others lost.

Since Kyle forced Lee to wear a vest with a bomb on it with a pressure trigger, the police have few options. While Lee is held hostage, Lee, Patt and their crew do their best to appease Kyle by looking into the shady company where he Kyle invested his money. As they begin to dig, it looks as if the CEO really is hiding something. The goal becomes to unveil the truth while the whole world watches on TV.

What could have been an interesting thriller in MONEY MONSTER is sadly plagued by ridiculous plot holes and illogical premises. The first of many issues resides in the fact that the plot relies on the whole world watching the hostage situation take place on TV. In reality, the TV network could have easily cut the feed without Kyle actually finding out they did so. Additionally, the story assumes that viewers will automatically empathize with Kyle, who along with many others, was legitimately cheated by the CEO of a billion dollar company. What Director Jodie Foster forgets in this Stockholm-Syndrome case is that Kyle, who wields a gun and a bomb (which the audience later finds out is fake) in the middle of New York City, is a legitimate terrorist. To assume that the general public watching a situation like this take place would condone such an attack with lighthearted glee (people literally dance in the streets) is borderline offensive. It’s clear the filmmakers have little knowledge of financial institutions, TV broadcasting, or basic sociology.

The final plot issue to be addressed in this review is the fact that Kyle fell into the mess he’s in because of his own irresponsible decision to put every dollar he had into a stock investment. This financial idiocy, regardless of a TV personality’s prompting, makes it hard to root for Kyle. This feeds into the humanist worldview that everyone is greedy, but that some succeed at profiting from their greed and others don’t. The movie in the end is morally relativistic, and ultimately presents a poorly constructed argument against capitalism. George Clooney and Julia Roberts are charming together unsurprisingly and are essentially the only glue that holds the movie together. That said, strong actors can only go so far with a terrible script.

Add in the fact that movie has a staggering amount of obscenities and profanities and lewd moments, and MONEY MONSTER is dull, offensive and worth avoiding.

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What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.