★★★

There’s not inconsiderable irony in the rapidity with which Dumb Money was snapped up by the big money of Hollywood. Heck, the GameStop shock of 2021 hadn’t even abated when the film was conceived. Ben Mezrich‘s book, on which Dumb Money is based, hadn’t even found a publisher. Back then, the film was to be called The Antisocial Network, in tribute to another adaptation of a Mezrich text. You may have seen it. Mezrich finally published a book for the film to adapt in September 2021, three months after Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo were hired to write its screenplay. I, Tonya’s Craig Gillespie was signed to direct only last year and, just seventeen months later, here we are. Such speed is near whiplash inducing.