Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Pete Davidson star in ‘Dumb Money,’ a darkly comedic spin on the GameStop stock frenzy that started in a Brockton basement.

By Dana Barbuto/Boston Movie News

Key facts

  • “Dumb Money” is adapted from the book “The Antisocial Network” by Boston native and Harvard graduate Ben Mezrich.
  • Mezrich also wrote “The Accidental Billionaires,” which was the source material for the Oscar-winning “The Social Network,” about the founding of Facebook. The Winklevoss twins, featured in that movie, are executive producers of “Dumb Money.” 
  • Locations in New Jersey double for Brockton, the hometown of Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty

Director Craig Gillespie (“The Finest Hours,” “I, Tonya”) tells his third Massachusetts story with “Dumb Money,” a chronicle of how a Stonehill College accounting major (Paul Dano) created the GameStop stock frenzy in January 2021. 

A perfectly cast Dano plays Keith Gill (online handle: Roaring Kitty), a former Brockton High track star with a flair for felines and finance. By day, Keith is a low-level analyst at Mass. Mutual, by night, he’s a viral Reddit trader. From his basement lair, signature red bandana tied around his head, Keith sets out to eat the rich. He leads an online community to buy GameStop stock, causing its price to fluctuate so much that it screws over billion-dollar hedge fund guys like Gabe Plotkin (a desperate and sweaty Seth Rogen) and Ken Griffin (an arrogant Nick Offerman) and money guru Steve Cohen (Vincent D’Onofrio, sharing scenes with a pet pig). 

Vincent D'Onofrio shares a scene with a pig in "Dumb Money." (Claire Folger/Sony Pictures)
Vincent D’Onofrio shares a scene with a pig in “Dumb Money.” (Claire Folger/Sony Pictures)

Characters converse about short sales, short squeezes, market fluctuations, etc. Most of the technical investing jargon doesn’t register the same way it did when Margot Robbie explained sub-prime loans while soaking in a bubble bath in 2015’s “The Big Short.” I did learn, however, that “tendies” are not just chicken tenders; they’re also gains or profits. What does make an impression are the stories of the average folks desperate enough to seek “investment advice from a guy in a cat shirt.” These people, like a cash-strapped single mom and nurse (America Ferrara, continuing a hot streak after “Barbie”) in Pittsburgh who can’t afford her kid’s braces, or the two broke Texas college students (Myha’la Herrold, HBO’s “Industry,” and Talia Ryder, “West Side Story”) with a mountain of tuition debt, or the GameStop clerk (Anthony Ramos, “In the Heights”) scuffling to keep his immigrant parents afloat. 

“Dumb Money” is a classic David vs. Goliath story, unfolding in the world of Wall Street, where the system rewards the Haves and does dirty to the Have Nots, like Roaring Kitty and his cohorts on YouTube and the Reddit forum WallStreetBets. With Keith leading the way, advising his followers to “HODL” (hold on for dear life), the little guys go for the jugular of the Finance Bros. 

Gillespie, directing from a script by former Wall Street Journal reporters Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, moves the narrative along at a good clip with his scrappy style. And it pays dividends. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but the terrific supporting cast helps compensate, especially Pete Davidson. As Keith’s stoner brother and DoorDash driver, Davidson does his slacker schtick, grabbing many laughs. But when the script calls for more dramatic scenes, Davidson answers, and there’s genuine chemistry between him and Dano (“The Fabelmans”). In an under-drawn part, Shailene Woodley (“Adrift”) plays Keith’s supportive wife, and Marvel’s Sebastian Stan shows up as CEO Vlad Tenev of the stock trading app Robinhood.

Gillespie has had a lot of success telling Massachusetts stories. He helmed “The Finest Hours,” the Coast Guard rescue drama, which was adapted from a book by Cape Cod native Casey Sherman and Plymouth’s Michael Tougias, and “I, Tonya,” about the infamous attack on Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan of Stoneham.  With “Dumb Money,” Gillespie cashes in again. 

Paul Dano as Brockton's Keith Gill, right, and Shailene Woodley as Caroline Gill, wearing a Stonehill College T-shirt, appear in a scene from "Dumb Money." (Claire Folger/Sony Pictures via AP)
Paul Dano as Brockton’s Keith Gill, right, and Shailene Woodley as Caroline Gill, wearing a Stonehill College T-shirt, appear in a scene from “Dumb Money.” (Claire Folger/Sony Pictures)

‘Dumb Money’

Rating: R for pervasive language, sexual material, and drug use

Cast: Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos,  Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen

Director: Craig Gillespie

Writer: Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo

Running time: 110 minutes

Where to watch: Showing in Boston theaters now and expanding wide Sept. 29.

Grade: B+