2016.05.13 金钱怪物。一部华尔街讽刺片的熊孩子

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CULTURE
Money Monster: A Bear of a Wall Street Satire
Jodie Foster’s new film wastes an impressive cast on a flimsy drama that can’t find its mark.

By David Sims

Sony / TriStar
MAY 13, 2016
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Money Monster wants to be a film straight out of the ’70s, a snarling satire of media mores and capitalist villains, shot through with the profane fury of a Paddy Chayefsky script. At best, it’s a star vehicle from the late ’90s, a creakier, simpler tale of a hostage crisis at a facsimile of CNBC’s Mad Money, tied to the backs of two marquee idols—George Clooney and Julia Roberts. As its tense studio antics unfold, though, the sad truth becomes apparent: Money Monster is a movie-star vehicle that isn’t giving its movie stars anything to do.

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That flaw is especially galling since it’s the fourth film directed by Jodie Foster, and her first since 2011’s The Beaver, a misguided but admirably demented attempt to restart Mel Gibson’s career. Foster has been an actor’s director in the past—Home for the Holidays is a bunch of great performances wrapped around a mediocre script—but she errs in Money Monster by handing the up-and-comer Jack O’Connell all the fun material. Beyond that, the film is existentially confused: It’s a media satire that isn’t humorous enough, and a hostage thriller that’s too light-hearted to maintain any real sense of danger.

Money Monster doubles as the name of the obnoxious stock-tip show hosted by Lee Gates (Clooney), a smiling can of hairspray who repeats Wall Street talking points under the guise of financial expertise. Despite Foster’s claims to the contrary, Lee comes off as an obvious parody of Mad Money host Jim Cramer, whose costume-and-sound-effect-heavy show suffered criticism after the 2008 financial crisis. To be sure, Money Monster’s script (credited to three writers) isn’t looking for subtlety: The financial industry is the villain, and Lee is a mass-media enabler, as well as an oblivious pawn in some larger fraudulent shell game orchestrated by a callous CEO (Dominic West).


Midway through a broadcast, Kyle (O’Connell), an errant viewer who lost his savings on a faulty tip, crashes the show with a gun and forces Lee to wear an explosive vest. Here, the stakes are set: Kyle wants justice for the systemic wrongs done to him and every other little guy, and it’s up to Lee and his trusty producer Patty (Roberts) to comply with his demands. At this point, Money Monster has to choose between being a nutty parody or a taut thriller, but the tone swings wildly back and forth. At one moment, Lee begs his viewers to buy a depressed stock to save his life and recover Kyle’s savings—a strange, clever nod to the back-patting arrangement between the financial industry and the softball shows that cover it. But minutes later, Kyle is shrieking expletives and firing shots at the ceiling.

Money Monster swings wildly back and forth between being a nutty parody and a taut thriller.
O’Connell is a fine young actor who first emerged on the British teen series Skins and gave a breathtaking performance in the 2014 prison drama Starred Up that seemed to announce him as a major talent. Since then he hasn’t quite clicked, starring in Angelina Jolie’s prisoner-of-war drama Unbroken and now Money Monster, saddled with an unfortunate American accent both times. If there’s hidden depth to Kyle, O’Connell doesn’t find it, spending much of his considerable screen time jamming his gun against Lee’s forehead and promising to blow his brains out. Despite all that, Kyle never registers as a real or interesting threat, dropping out of the action (which is largely confined to Lee’s studio) whenever other characters need to take center stage.


If Foster was aiming for the edgy, vibrant energy of great hostage thrillers like Spike Lee’s Inside Man (in which she appeared), she missed what makes those kinds of movies great—characters. Kyle is a meaningless cipher, a stand-in for the “working man” who does a disservice to the film’s overall message by barely feeling like a person at all. Lee should be more of a fun foil for him—Clooney is agreeably dumb in the film’s early scenes, but this is an actor who has turned buffoonery into an art form for the Coen Brothers time and time again. Money Monster’s plot demands he snap into competence too quickly to register a real story arc. Roberts, largely trapped in the booth keeping things under control, deploys restraint and star wattage in equal measure, though her talents are largely wasted on her barking orders at everyone to remain calm.

There’s plenty of hand-wringing about the death of the movie star in Hollywood, as comic-book franchises and CGI spectacles that any young actor can be plugged into become the norm for big studios. It’s an overblown concern, but Money Monster is exactly the kind of film to inspire that worry: If a sub-par script like this can attract names like Clooney, Roberts, and Foster, maybe audiences really are doomed. Just a few more script drafts, some visual verve, and a tighter focus on the film’s satirical elements could have turned Money Monster into the 1970s throwback it wants to be. As it is, it’s destined for the drugstore bargain bin.

David Sims is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covers culture.




文化
金钱怪物。一部华尔街讽刺片的熊孩子
朱迪-福斯特的新片将令人印象深刻的演员阵容浪费在一个找不到目标的软弱的戏剧上。

作者：David Sims

索尼/TriStar
2016年5月13日
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金钱怪兽》想成为一部直接来自70年代的电影，对媒体风气和资本主义恶棍的咆哮式讽刺，用Paddy Chayefsky剧本的亵渎性怒火来拍摄。在最好的情况下，它是90年代末的一个明星工具，一个关于CNBC的《疯狂的金钱》的人质危机的吱吱作响的、更简单的故事，被绑在两个著名的偶像--乔治-克鲁尼和朱莉亚-罗伯茨的背上。然而，随着其紧张的工作室滑稽表演的展开，可悲的事实变得明显。金钱怪兽》是一部电影明星的工具，但却没有给它的电影明星提供任何事情可做。

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这一缺陷尤其令人痛心，因为这是朱迪-福斯特导演的第四部电影，也是她自2011年的《海狸》以来的第一部电影，这是一部被误导但令人钦佩的疯狂尝试，旨在重启梅尔-吉布森的职业生涯。福斯特过去一直是演员的导演--《假日之家》是一群伟大的表演，围绕着一个平庸的剧本，但她在《金钱怪兽》中犯了错误，把所有有趣的材料都交给了新秀杰克-奥康纳。除此以外，这部电影在存在上是混乱的。它是一部不够幽默的媒体讽刺片，也是一部过于轻松的人质惊悚片，无法保持任何真正的危险感。

金钱怪物》是李-盖茨（克鲁尼）主持的令人讨厌的股票提示节目的名字，他是一个微笑的发胶罐，在金融专业知识的幌子下重复华尔街的谈话要点。尽管福斯特的说法与此相反，李显然是在模仿《疯狂理财》的主持人吉姆-克莱默（Jim Cramer），后者在2008年金融危机后，其服装和音响效果很强的节目受到了批评。可以肯定的是，《金钱怪兽》的剧本（由三位编剧负责）并不追求精巧：金融业是恶棍，而李是大众媒体的帮凶，也是冷酷无情的首席执行官（多米尼克-韦斯特）策划的更大的欺诈性壳游戏中的一个无知小卒。


在一次广播中，凯尔（奥康纳），一个因错误的提示而失去积蓄的错误观众，带着枪闯入节目，迫使李穿着爆炸背心。在这里，赌注已经确定。凯尔希望为他和其他小人物所遭受的系统性错误伸张正义，而李和他信任的制片人帕蒂（罗伯茨）则要满足他的要求。在这一点上，《金钱怪兽》必须在疯狂的模仿和紧张的惊悚片之间做出选择，但基调却疯狂地来回摇摆。在某一时刻，李恳求他的观众购买一只低迷的股票，以挽救他的生命并收回凯尔的储蓄--这是对金融业和报道金融业的软文节目之间的反击安排的奇怪而巧妙的点头。但几分钟后，凯尔就大喊大叫，向天花板开枪。

钱怪》在疯狂的模仿和紧张的惊悚片之间来回摇摆。
奥康纳是一位优秀的年轻演员，他第一次出现在英国青少年系列剧《皮囊》中，并在2014年的监狱剧《星光大道》中表现出令人惊叹的表演，似乎宣布他是一个重要的人才。从那时起，他还没有完全进入状态，在安吉丽娜-朱莉的战俘题材影片《破碎》和现在的《金钱怪兽》中出演，两次都带着不幸的美国口音。如果说凯尔有隐藏的深度，奥康纳并没有发现，他花了大量的银幕时间用枪顶着李的额头，并承诺要打爆他的脑袋。尽管如此，凯尔从未成为一个真正的或有趣的威胁，每当其他角色需要占据中心舞台时，他就会退出行动（主要局限于李的工作室）。


如果福斯特的目标是像斯派克-李的《内部人》（她在其中出演）这样伟大的人质惊悚片的前卫、充满活力的能量，那么她错过了使这些类型的电影伟大的原因--人物。凯尔是一个毫无意义的密码，是 "劳动者 "的替身，几乎感觉不到他是一个人，这对影片的整体信息是一种伤害。李应该是他的一个有趣的陪衬--克鲁尼在影片的早期场景中是令人满意的哑巴，但这是一个把小丑变成科恩兄弟的一种艺术形式的演员，一次又一次。金钱怪兽》的剧情要求他迅速进入状态，以记录一个真正的故事弧线。罗伯茨大部分时间都被困在控制室里，她在同等程度上运用了克制和明星的力量，尽管她的才能在很大程度上被浪费在她对每个人的命令上，以保持冷静。

有很多人对好莱坞电影明星的死亡感到担忧，因为漫画书的特许经营权和任何年轻演员都可以插入的CGI奇观成为大公司的标准。这是一种被夸大的担忧，但《金钱怪兽》正是激发这种担忧的影片：如果像这样一个次要的剧本能够吸引像克鲁尼、罗伯茨和福斯特这样的名字，也许观众真的注定要被淘汰。只要多起草几份剧本，增加一些视觉上的活力，并更紧密地关注影片的讽刺元素，就能把《金钱怪兽》变成它想成为的1970年代的经典之作。就目前的情况来看，它注定要被扔进药店的便宜货箱。

David Sims是《大西洋》杂志的工作人员，他负责文化报道。