Summary

• Dumb Money is a hilarious and fast-paced comedy that dramatizes the true story of the Gamestop short squeeze, creating a battle between hedge fund managers and online underdogs.
• The majority of reviews for Dumb Money highlight its clever script, entertaining approach to storytelling, and phenomenal cast, although some critics mention that the plot goes in too many directions.
• Despite creative liberties taken with the true story and some plot shortcomings, Dumb Money is an effective and enjoyable entertainment with relatable characters and great performances by the actors.

Though the comedy movie Dumb Money is currently in theaters, It has already gained overwhelmingly positive reviews, showing the strength of plucky us-versus-them movies. Dramatizing the true story of the Gamestop short squeeze during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dumb Money follows Keith Gill – a family man with a YouTube channel – and a Reddit group of investors who tip the company's stock holding, creating a battle between the hedge fund managers for Melvin Captial and the online underdogs. What follows in the movie is a fast-paced, hilarious story of the people who tried to change Wall Street.

After a week and a half at the Box Office, Dumb Money holds a respectable 84 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, only slightly lower than the similar movie The Big Short. Of the 159 reviews available on Rotten Tomatoes, the majority all rave about Dumb Money's clever script and entertaining approach to storytelling. Even when the movie goes in too many directions with the plot, the phenomenal cast of Dumb Money makes up for the weaknesses, hitting every comedy moment just right. Viewers will become invested in the characters, rooting for the underdogs to succeed.

Dumb Money's Underdog True Story Is Entertaining & Smart

At the heart of the comedy, Dumb Money is an example of a modern David and Goliath. Keith Gill and the millions of s on r/WallStreetBets represent all the people who lost their stability during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of these characters invested the unemployment money and stipends they received in order to take down the wealthy individuals on Wall Street. The script captures the "eat the rich" mentality that started before the pandemic but grew immensely during lockdowns and layoffs. Critics of Dumb Money honed in on these elements in their reviews.

Screen Rant

This is a story that recognizes the ridiculousness of its origin and uses it as a strength in lieu of the more informational approach.

The Times UK

Sounds dry and simplistic, but the script from Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo is vivid and visceral.

Movies and Munchies

Paul Dano is the standout, capturing the courage, doubt, and charisma of someone who accidentally became the voice of the financially depressed in an epic David versus Goliath scenario.

Book And Film Globe

Dumb Money is the first mainstream movie to show how sad and unfair life really was during COVID.

ABC News

[T]he slapstick tragedy that is "Dumb Money" bubbles over with a humanity that gives us a rooting interest in characters fighting a toxic system.

Dumb Money's Cast Makes Up For Too Many Plot Threads

The biggest weakness discussed by critics was the creative liberties taken which included changing parts of Dumb Money's true story. When dealing with a true story, not everyone will be satisfied with the way they portray the events. Ultimately, many reviewers viewed this more as a parable than they did a biographical comedy. However, even the negative reviews mentioned that the actors more than made up for the plot issues. Paul Dano gave a compelling performance as Keith Dano, making the character extremely funny and relatable. On the other side of the battle, Seth Rogan played Gabe Plotkin as a hateable villain whom everyone could root against.

New York Times

It’s hard not to root for Gill, in his dorky headband, to take down people who have staked vast sums against the stock he loves. Who cares if what the movie itself is selling is played out?

Mashable

It's bolstered by entertaining performances that, at least sometimes, make up for its numerous shortcomings elsewhere.

Vulture

The pleasant surprise of Dumb Money is that it’s such an effective entertainment, even if it oversells the revolutionary impact of what it’s depicting.

BBC

Dumb Money is not as smart or skewering as it pretends to be... but it is funny, irreverent and crowd-pleasing, with a kaleidoscope of likeable characters and actors.

Overall, the critics primarily agree that Dumb Money is an enjoyable movie with fun characters played by great actors. People who want to decide for themselves can still watch the dramatized biographical story in theaters. As of the time of writing, the comedy biographical movie is only in its second week. Anyone who wants to stream the movie will have to wait a while, though. Dumb Money will stream on Netflix after the theatrical window and video-on-demand window close.