Margin Call Directed by: J.C. Chandor Starring: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Zachary Quinto Rating: R Release Date: October 21, 2011
TRAILER SCORE: 6/10
Thoughts by TSR: Documentaries like Inside Job and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room have told compelling stories shady dealing going on behind closed doors in the business world. Margin Call looks like it wants to do the same in a fictional format. The cast looks good, besides Spacey, Bettany and Quinto, the film also has Stanley Tucci, Demi Moore, Simon Baker and Jeremy Irons. It looks promising, even though little of the actual story is given away. Quinto's character has some information about the coming market meltdown and everyone else starts glowing and yelling like they ended up in Glengarry Glen Ross all of a sudden.
I'd probably be more hopeful if the last couple of films I've seen that deal with similar topics weren't so disappointing. Last year's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, despite having the best subtitle since Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo was a disappointing film. Only Josh Brolin's character's storyline was interesting. But judged purely on the trailer, I'll say it might be good, but I'll wait to see what the reviews say.