Margin Call (2011)
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AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Smart, tightly wound, and solidly acted, Margin Call turns the convoluted financial meltdown of '08 into gripping, thought-provoking drama.
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Cast
as Sam Rogers
as Will Emerson
as John Tuld
as Peter Sullivan
as Seth Bregman
as Jared Cohen
as Mary Rogers
as Sarah Robertson
as Eric Dale
as Lucy
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Critic Reviews for Margin Call
All Critics (155) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (137) | Rotten (18) | DVD (2)
Chandor proffers a cross-section of a Lehman Brothers-esque company as the realisation dawns that sub-prime speculation has brought the market to an ominous tipping point.
Carefully crafted performances and taut pacing carry the day.
Topical drama about the financial crisis lacks the visceral punch to grab an audience.
A methodical, coolly absorbing boardroom thriller.
Spacey is mesmerizing as Sam, a weary, aging lion losing his appetite for antelope. And Irons plays the villain with magisterial ease.
It's a realistic take on what happens when high-flying money speculators suddenly hit ground. It's also a great calling card for J.C. Chandor, the writer/director making his feature debut.
Audience Reviews for Margin Call
What a gripping, thought-provoking drama this is, with a very careful pace and an intelligent script that relies on a sharp cast and compelling dialogue to depict with a fascinating, acute realism the 24 hours prior to the financial crisis of 2008 at an investment firm.
Super Reviewer
Owing a huge deal to David Mamet and his cunning, no nonsense, hyper realistic dialogue; first time writer-director J. C Chandor weaves an equally engrossing character driven exploration of capitalist excesses. A top notch cast that uses Chandor's words as fists in the struggle to remain in their unnamed company, which resemblances the extinct Lehman Brothers and the causes that led to its downfall. Especial mention to the almost reptilian-like head honcho of the firm, an impeccable and sinister Jeremy Irons.
Super Reviewer
A re-telling of the 2008 financial crisis that casts it as Greek tragedy and very nearly respects the three classical unities, covering one main action (the collapse of this firm's solubility), one main physical space (the office, though it does branch out a little, to a car, a bar and a porch), and lasting not more than 24 hours. The ensemble cast is excellent, the mood is dark, the events are totally believable, the stakes are high, and on top of all that, there's a speech that, in my opinion, supplants Gordon Gecko's "Greed is good" in Oliver Stone's Wall Street, which I watched after this and found lacking in comparison. One of the more underrated films of the past few years - hard-hitting, essential viewing.
Super Reviewer
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