In writing this review of sorts I won't even attempt to explain the financial terms that are used in this film.
This film was first released in Sept 2023 and finally had a chance to see it last weekend. It attempts to tell the story of Keith Gill who through his social media following was able to persuade them to buy stock in Game Stop because he liked the stock.
And then Keith Gill finds himself going up against Wall Street firms who had been "short-selling stock". I got a kick out of Nick Offerman playing Citadel CEO Ken Griffin as I had no idea he had been part of this story.
Ken Griffin you might know placed his own bet on an Illinois mayor to become the Republican nominee for Governor. That man floundered and Griffin before the 2022 GOP primary announced that he was moving Citadel out of Chicago and to Florida citing high crime.
Either way Gill's social media following aggressively starts buying the Game Stop stock and helps to drive up the price of those shares and causes these investment firms such as Gabe Plotkin's Melvin Capital to lose money. So the gambit of "short-selling" was not working as as we learn near the end of the film is that now investment firms have to pay attention to social media to see which stocks "dumb money" or consumer investors are buying.
Gill hasn't posted to his YouTube channel since 2021 and not too long after he had testified in front of a Congressional Committee. And I get that he lost his job as a result of the publicity surround this situation, I only wonder what he's up to these days and if he's still got his shares of Game Stop.
Also if you can't relate to Gabe Plotkin or Griffin you can relate to some of his Gill's followers. Two college students who are all in on Game Stop one of whom suffered some form of financial setbacks from her parents. Then an actual worker at Game Stop who is all in on shares and doesn't appear that happy with his job. And then a single mother who's a nurse at a hospital.
Another part of this is RobinHood which as a result of their own role in this scandal their IPO didn't start off as well as they had hope. The founders of RobinHood were no longer billionaires. One thing I do remember from back then - two years ago - is that they stopped purchase of Game Stop shares. What I didn't know is that Griffin was involved with this.
Back when this actually happened perhaps one a new administration took over in Washington I was a bit fascinated by this story and heard the news. At the same time I was too late once it became a story.
I also heard that there were dumb money buying shares of AMC Theatres in 2021 which would've been game for me because I'd like that stock.
This movie isn't quite up there with The Big Short, however, when it comes to movies explaining financial news stories this is a worthwhile watch if you go to the theater and certainly if you can find it on streaming in the near future.
Here's a trailer [VIDEO]
