Money Monster (2016)

May 12, 2016 (Cannes)May 13, 2016 (United States)

May 12, 2016 (Cannes)
May 13, 2016 (United States)

Money Monster is a 2016 American crime thriller film directed by Jodie Foster, from a screenplay by Jamie Linden, Alan Di Fiore, and Jim Kouf. It stars George Clooney as financial television host Lee Gates and Julia Roberts as his producer Patty Fenn, as they are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes them and their crew as hostage. The cast also features Jack O'Connell, Dominic West, Caitríona Balfe, and Giancarlo Esposito.

Money Monster had its world premiere at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on May 12, 2016, and was theatrically released in the United States the next day by Sony Pictures Releasing. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a box office success, grossing over $93 million against a budget of $27.4 million.

Plot

Flamboyant television financial expert Lee Gates is in the midst of the latest edition of his show, Money Monster. Less than 24 hours earlier, IBIS Clear Capital's stock inexplicably cratered, apparently due to a glitch in a trading algorithm, costing investors $800 million. Lee planned to have IBIS CEO Walt Camby appear for an interview, but Camby unexpectedly departed for a business trip to Geneva, Switzerland.

Midway through the show, a deliveryman wanders onto the set, pulls a gun and takes Lee hostage, forcing him to put on a vest laden with explosives. The man reveals that his name is Kyle Budwell, who invested $60,000—his entire life savings—in IBIS after Lee endorsed the company on camera. He was wiped out along with the other investors. Unless he gets some answers, Kyle will blow up Lee before killing himself. Once police are notified, they discover that the receiver to the bomb's vest is located over Lee's kidney. The only way to destroy the receiver—and with it, Kyle's leverage—is to shoot Lee and hope he survives.

With the help of longtime director Patty Fenn, Lee tries to calm Kyle and locate Camby, though Kyle is dissatisfied when both Lee and IBIS chief communications officer Diane Lester offer to compensate him for his financial loss. He is angered by Diane's insistence that the algorithm is to blame. Diane is not satisfied with her own explanation, either, and defies colleagues by contacting a programmer who created the algorithm, Won Joon. Reached in Seoul, Joon insists that an algorithm could not take such a large, lopsided position without someone meddling with it.

Lee appeals to his TV viewers for help, seeking to recoup the lost investment, but is dejected by their response. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) find Kyle's pregnant girlfriend Molly and allow her to talk to Kyle through a video feed. When she learns that he lost everything, she viciously berates him before the police cut the feed. Lee, siding with Kyle, agrees to help his captor discover what went wrong.

Once Camby arrives, Diane flips through his passport, discovering that instead of going to Geneva he went to Johannesburg, South Africa. With this clue, along with messages from Camby's phone, Patty and the Money Monster team contact a group of Icelandic hackers to seek the truth. After a police sniper misses a shot at Lee, he and Kyle resolve to corner Camby at Federal Hall National Memorial, where, according to Diane, Camby is headed. They head out with network cameramen, Lenny, plus the police, and a mob of fans and jeerers alike. Having earned his trust, Kyle admits to Lee that the vest does not actually contain explosives, simply clay. Kyle accidentally shoots and wounds producer Ron Sprecher when Ron throws Lee a new earpiece. Kyle and Lee finally confront Camby with video evidence obtained by the hackers.

Camby had bribed a South African miners' union, planning to have IBIS make an $800 million investment in a platinum mine while the union was on strike. The strike lowered the mine's owner's stock, allowing Camby to buy it at a low price. Had his plan succeeded, IBIS would have generated a multibillion-dollar profit when mine work resumed and the stock rose again. The gambit backfired when the union stayed on the picket line. Camby attempted to bribe union leader Moshe Mambo to stop the strike, but he refused, causing IBIS' stock to sink under the weight of its position in the failing company.

Despite the evidence, Camby refuses to admit his swindle until Kyle takes the explosive vest off Lee and puts it on him. He finally admits to his wrongdoing on live camera. Satisfied with the outcome, Kyle throws the detonator away. Then Kyle, much to Lee's dismay, gets fatally shot by the police. Lee punches Camby, as his greed and corruption cost Kyle his life. In the aftermath, the SEC announces that IBIS will be placed under investigation, while Camby is charged with violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Lee and Patty reconcile, wondering how they follow their last broadcast.

Movie Trailer

  • Money Monster (2016) (Trailers)

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