The Big Short movie quotes bring the 2010 novel The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis to life in a feature film. The comedy-drama, which highlights the subprime housing market crash and subsequent financial crisis of 2007 to 2010, was adapted into a screenplay and directed by Adam McKay. The Big Short opened in theaters in the United States on December 11, 2015.
In The Big Short, Dr. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) isn't the typical Wall Street influencer in both his attitude and wardrobe. So when he discovers that the subprime market, fueled by banks offering risky mortgages, will soon crash and lead to a massive financial crisis, his reports of this (including to Tracy Letts) are brushed off as ridiculous. The bankers might not listen but Burry finds some who will.
Joining up with Mark Baum (Steve Carell), Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) and others, this team of Wall Street outsiders do the unthinkable. They bet against big banks, wagering that these banks will fail, and make oodles of money in the process. It certainly doesn't make everything right in the end, but it's a unique way to deal with their anger about the situation while making bank for themselves in the process.
Charlie Geller: You want to bet against the banks? Ben Rickert: I think we're either high or having a stroke, kind of brilliant.
Betting against big banks was not just a bizarre idea, but an idea seen as ludicrous at the time. Then again, knowing what Ben knows, it might just be brilliant.
Mark Baum: We target strippers with bad loans? ... Mark Baum: You're not going to be able to refinance. Dancer: On all my loans? Mark Baum: What do you mean, all your loans? Dancer: I have five houses and a condo.
Mark speaks to an exotic dancer about how her loan will be impacted by the crashing housing market. She does not take this news well, especially as she has multiple loans on six properties, rather than just one as Mark assumed.
