Roadside Attractions Releases MARGIN CALL On VOD And In Theaters Today!October 21, 2011
Roadside Attractions
On Demand Weekly provides new movie reviews of hot movies on demand and from the POV of watching from the comfort of your home. Today’s review: MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions).
Click Here For On Demand Weekly's Exclusive Interview With Director J.C. Chandor
MARGIN CALL - Starring Kevin Spacey, Demi Moore Premieres On Demand
By Chris Claro
MARGIN CALL, written and directed by first-time feature helmer J.C. Chandor, is a Wall Street tale based on a true story, though exactly which story is open to question. The tale of one 24-hour period during which an investment bank must divest itself of worthless paper by foisting it on unsuspecting buyers, the film attempts to put a human face on those who have been demonized throughout the banking crisis.
Zachary Quinto / MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions)
Zachary Quinto (STAR TREK) adopts his Spock inscrutability once again as the young numbers whiz who is tipped by fired colleague Stanley Tucci (THE LOVELY BONES) that the firm is in trouble. Quinto’s Peter kicks the issue upstairs to bosses Kevin Spacey (CASINO JACK) and Paul Bettany (IRON MAN 2), who have to explain it to superiors Demi Moore (THE JONESES) and Simon Baker (THE MENTALIST), who, finally, must clue in firm head Jeremy Irons (THE BORGIAS).
Demi Moore and Paul Bettany / MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions)
So, star-studded cast? Check. Of-the-moment subject matter? Got it. Sleek though budget-conscious production design? Yup. A compelling, comprehensible script? Whoops, that one got by Chandor and producer Quinto. Somnolent and impenetrable, MARGIN CALL is a static talkfest that strands its a-listers in a sea of jargon and pained stares. It’s the kind of film where characters bark “do you mean to tell me” or “am I to understand that,” to provoke a simplified explanation, which the director knows the audience will need when it’s confronted with the esoteric argot of the banking industry.
Kevin Spacey / MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions)
The actors do what they can with the convoluted finance-speak, but when Irons instructs an underling to “talk to (him) as you would to a child or a small dog,” it feels as if Chandor doesn’t have the confidence in his audience to follow along. Such spoon-feeding might work if MARGIN CALL had some glide in its stride – if it were a breathless entertainment in the WALL STREET vein. But it plods and ponders, making the 24-hour period in which it’s set feel like real time.
Chandor’s effort to humanize the money movers who created the debt crisis is a noble effort, and his noteworthy actors, unsurprisingly, are more than up to the task. Spacey does yet another variation on his high-level executive, but suffuses the character with the humanity that is missing from his more balls-out honchos in SWIMMING WITH SHARKS and HORRIBLE BOSSES. Irons’ master of the universe exploits the irony and cunning that is the actor’s stock in trade, and he is effective as one of the multiple audience surrogates. In a decidedly unglamorous role, Moore make strong use of her screen time as a patsy for the firm’s malfeasance, and Tucci is excellent as the poor schmuck who’s put in 19 years with the firm and only makes an impression after he’s canned.
Stanley Tucci / MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions)
MARGIN CALL isn’t a disaster. It just isn’t much of a movie. Hermetically sealed within its towering Manhattan fortress, the film’s too-measured depiction of the panic that arose among those who perpetrated the mortgage crisis plays more like an episode of FRONTLINE. It’s populated with good actors who can do a Sorkin-style walk-and-talk in their sleep, but Chandor trades thoughtfulness for entertainment, making MARGIN CALL a respectful, if didactic, economics lesson, rather than the thriller it so clearly aspires to be.
Zachary Quinto and J.C. Chandor / MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions)
If financial flicks are your thing and you can keep up with the endless stream of finance chatter, check out MARGIN CALL. Everybody else is advised to invest elsewhere.
Chris Claro is a contributing writer to On Demand Weekly. He is a former Director of Promotion for Sundance Channel and now works as a writer, producer, and media educator. He is a regular contributor to dvdverdict.com and contributor to the Eyes and Ears section of huffingtonpost.com
Look for MARGIN CALL (Roadside Attractions) on these On Demand providers (Amazon, Blockbuster, Charter, Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, Dish Network, Itunes, Sonic Roxio, Sony PlayStation, Time Warner InDemand, Verizon, Vudu, YouTube, Zune).
See Chris' Other Reviews & Interviews...
TRESPASS - SKIP IT
THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 - DEMAND IT
BLACKTHORN - RISK IT
SHUT UP LITTLE MAN! AN AUDIO MISADVENTURE - DEMAND IT
BRIGTON ROCK - DEMAND IT
CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP - DEMAND IT
BURK & HARE - DEMAND IT
TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL - DEMAND IT
Can Joe Swanberg Make Mumblecore Sexy?
THE BIG UNEASY - DEMAND IT
THE TRIP - DEMAND IT
