Money Monster review: Clooney’s the money but O’Connell’s the monster

Money Monster review: George Clooney and Julia Roberts might be the marquee names, but Jodie Foster’s new movie is a Jack O’Connell show all the way.

Money Monster
Director - Jodie Foster
Cast - George Clooney, Jack O’Connell, Julia Roberts
Rating - 3/5

Jack O’Connell elevates the movie the second he enters the frame, alluringly diverting your eyes from icons like Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Hey, we live in an angry world. It’s not an ideal truth, but it’s an undeniable one. Jodie Foster’s new movie Money Monster feels your anger. For a good hour, it rages on – against banks, corporations, evil businessmen and even TV journalists. In Jack O’Connell, it creates possibly one of the most enraged protagonists you’ll see this year. But it squanders it all - and what for? Just for that extra applause, that extra fist pump, and yes – that extra money.

This isn’t a particularly intelligent movie. But I think it knows that. So if you’re worried about it being another The Big Short, alienatingly cerebral, it is not. It is, however – at least for an hour – a thrilling hostage drama. Think Phone Booth meets The Taking of Pelham 123 crossed with a tiny bit of A Wednesday. But, cripplingly preoccupied with sticking it to The Man, in its third act, it drops - like it’s the recession all over again. It takes turns that are so preposterous, even that always dependable excuse ‘It’s only a movie’ can’t save it.

But it works more often than it doesn’t. And that’s entirely the doing of the cast. George Clooney and Julia Roberts can pull off material like this in their sleep. But it’s a Jack O’Connell show. For those of you who’ve seen him in Skins or the Irish thriller 71, you’ll agree with me that this young actor is meant for great things.

Jodie Foster’s directorial career has been rather hit or miss. And while Money Monster hits a lot of its beats, it also misses more than a few.

As for the film, as long as you don’t go in expecting a critical indictment of Wall Street, and accept it for what it is – a pulpy B-movie – it’s going to be an immensely satisfying couple of hours. Or hour.

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The author tweets @NaaharRohan