🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 101 (from laksa030)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa101.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/The-Big-Short-an-entertaining-walk-through-6686845.php\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/The-Big-Short-an-entertaining-walk-through-6686845.php\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/movies\/article\/The-Big-Short-an-entertaining-walk-through-6686845.php","crawl_time":1775118180,"first_indexed_time":1451474586,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,sfgate!www,\/movies\/article\/The-Big-Short-an-entertaining-walk-through-6686845.php s443","src_root_hash":"9965634055219334301","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"‘The Big Short’ lends dark wit to the big financial crash","meta_descriptions":["The financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which..."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. \"The Big Short\" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.\nJaap Buitendijk\nThe financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which isn’t a drama and isn’t quite a comedy, but more like a bitter farce. The subject has been dealt with in documentaries and in dramas, such that we’ve come to understand the arrogance and crookedness that almost tanked the world economy. What “The Big Short” provides is a proper rendering of the colossal and contemptible stupidity that was also a factor.\nAlmost incidentally, it gives one of the clearest explanations of the collapse that has been put on film. Go in knowing nothing about credit default swaps and CDOs, and you will walk out educated — and in the most painless and amusing way imaginable. A running joke of the movie is that whenever something arcane has to be explained, the movie brings out a glamorous celebrity to do the explaining. It freely acknowledges that it deals in dull material and finds ways to make it enjoyable.\nArticle continues below this ad\nThe film is directed by\nAdam McKay\n, a comedy director best known for several movies starring\nWill Ferrell\n, including “Anchorman.” For “The Big Short,” he locates a specific tone that allows for a wide range of information and moods. It is funny and then serious, absurd but with consequences, featuring characters who are exaggerated but not ridiculous. The movie has the seeming looseness that can come only with control, demonstrating the free impulses that filmmakers can indulge only when they know exactly what they’re doing.\nNow that they’ve gone and made it, the story of “The Big Short” seems tailor-made for the movies. How do you craft a story about a global calamity? How do you make it without creating a total downer, full of dejected people in Ireland and Iceland, homeowners losing their homes, and retired people losing their life savings? Easy! Make a movie about the guys who made their fortunes because of the crisis. There’s your built-in happy ending. And to keep it all from being distasteful, show that they all deserved to get rich, because they were the only ones in the game who weren’t completely insane.\nBased on the book by\nMichael Lewis\n, the film follows a handful of investors and hedge-fund managers who saw the collapse coming from a few years off. In the case of Michael Burry (\nChristian Bale\n), he figured it out by actually looking at the thousands of home mortgages that were bundled into Triple-A-rated bonds. He saw that they were filled with balloon mortgages whose monthly payments would triple during 2007, causing defaults guaranteed to turn the bonds into toilet paper. He saw that the banks were lending money to anybody who could sign their name to a mortgage and that the housing market was bound to crater.\nTo see what others can’t see — what everyone else swears isn’t there — requires a certain kind of obstinacy, even eccentricity. As Burry, a real-life person, Bale gives us a socially awkward guy who works by himself in a room full of blasting hard-core punk music. When he goes to Goldman Sachs wanting to buy a product betting against the housing market, he’s practically laughed out of the boardroom, but not before three Goldman executives take his money.\nArticle continues below this ad\n“The Big Short” is structured so audiences will root for the inevitable — the near-collapse of the entire world economy. From the standpoint of the lead characters, it’s a wonder it takes so long. Even when reality starts to dawn, the market is held up through unjustifiable bond ratings and misguided investor confidence. To watch “The Big Short” is to look forward to seeing the smug look wiped from the faces of everyone who caused the crisis — from the bond salesman peddling junk to the moronic, rapacious salesmen roping people into loans they can’t ever pay back.\nAt the heart of the film is\nSteve Carell\n, playing the semifictional character\nMark Baum\n, a morally driven hedge-fund manager who becomes a surrogate for the audience’s anger. He embodies the film’s tone, as a borderline comic figure who grows in stature and vision.\nWith one eye on the ticking clock as it tracks different sets of people betting on the apocalypse —\nBrad Pitt\nhas a nice role as a Wall Street veteran aiding a pair of talented neophytes — “The Big Short” maintains its wit and velocity for its entire 130-minute running time. It’s an impressive achievement, though in the moment it might seem like something else — simply the most relentlessly entertaining film of the last few months.\nArticle continues below this ad\nThe Big Short\nBlack comedy. Starring Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Directed by Adam McKay. (R. 130 minutes.)\nDec 9, 2015\n|\nUpdated\nDec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m.\nMovie Critic\nMick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com","attrs_markdown":"SF Gate Logo\n\nHearst Newspapers Logo\n\n[Skip to main content](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/movies\/article\/The-Big-Short-an-entertaining-walk-through-6686845.php#content)\n\n[CA MINI CROSSWORD](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/california-mini-crossword-puzzle-puzzmo\/?utm_source=masthead&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=campaignname&utm_term=camini)\n\n[Home](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/)\n\n- [Classifieds](http:\/\/sfc.ipublishmarketplace.com\/sf-marketplace\/)\n- [Standards & Practices](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/standards\/)\n- [Advertise With Us](https:\/\/marketing.sfgate.com\/advertise-with-us-today?utm_source=sfgate)\n- [Privacy Notice](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/privacy\/)\n- [Terms of Use](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/terms\/)\n- [Ad Choices](http:\/\/www.aboutads.info\/choices\/)\n- [Your Privacy Choices](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/yourdata\/)\n\n[About SFGATE](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/home\/article\/about-sfgate-15613713.php)\n\n[Careers](https:\/\/eevd.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com\/hcmUI\/CandidateExperience\/en\/sites\/CX_11007\/requisitions?keyword=SFGATE&mode=location)\n\n[Contact SFGATE](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/home\/article\/sfgate-staff-15734829.php)\n\n[Newsletters](https:\/\/link.sfgate.com\/join\/signup-sfgate)\n\n[News](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/news\/)\n\n- [Bay Area](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/bayarea\/)\n- [California Wildfires](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/california-wildfires\/)\n- [Education](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/education\/)\n- [North Coast](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/northcoast\/)\n- [Politics](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/politics\/)\n- [Weather](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/weather\/)\n\n[Sports](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sports\/)\n\n- [49ers](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/49ers\/)\n- [Giants](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/giants\/)\n- [A's](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/athletics\/)\n- [Warriors](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/warriors\/)\n\n[Bay Area](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/local\/)\n\n- [SF History](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sfhistory\/)\n\n[Travel](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/travel\/)\n\n- [California Parks](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/california-parks\/)\n- [Central Coast](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/centralcoast\/)\n- [Disneyland](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/disneyland\/)\n- [Hawaii](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/hawaii\/)\n- [Monterey-Carmel](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/monterey-carmel\/)\n- [Tahoe](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/renotahoe\/)\n- [Wine Country](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/winecountry\/)\n\n[Food + Drink](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/food\/)\n\n[Culture](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sf-culture\/)\n\n[Tech](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/tech\/)\n\n[Los Angeles](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/la\/)\n\n[California](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/california\/)\n\n[National Parks](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/national-parks\/)\n\n[Real Estate](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/realestate\/)\n\n- [New Homes](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/newhomes\/)\n- [(Virtual) Open Homes](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/openhomes\/)\n- [Luxury](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/luxuryhomes\/)\n- [Rentals](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/rentals\/)\n- [Place a Real Estate Ad](https:\/\/myagentads.hearst.com\/realestate\/sfchronicle\/index.html)\n- [Neighborhood Guides](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sfneighborhoods\/)\n- [Home & Garden](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/homeandgarden\/)\n- [Movers](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/realestate\/movers\/)\n\n[Obits](https:\/\/www.legacy.com\/obituaries\/sfgate?ipid=desktopnav9-12)\n\n- [Obituaries](https:\/\/www.legacy.com\/obituaries\/sfgate?ipid=desktopnav9-12)\n- [Place an Obituary](https:\/\/ezads.hearst.com\/obits\/sfchronicle\/index.html)\n\n[Best Of](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/best\/)\n\n[Shopping](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/shopping\/)\n\n[Puzzles](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/puzzles\/)\n\n[Sponsor Content](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sponsoredarticles\/lifestyle\/)\n\n- [StoryStudio](https:\/\/storystudio.sfgate.com\/)\n- [Paid Press Releases](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/business\/press-releases\/)\n- [Senior Living](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/senior-living\/)\n- [Sponsor Content: Business](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/sponsoredarticles\/business\/)\n\n[SF Gate Logo](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/)\n\n[CA MINI CROSSWORD](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/california-mini-crossword-puzzle-puzzmo\/?utm_source=masthead&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=campaignname&utm_term=camini)\n\n[Entertainment](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/entertainment\/)\\|[Movies](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/movies\/)\n\n# ‘The Big Short’ lends dark wit to the big financial crash\nBy [Mick LaSalle](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/author\/mick-lasalle\/), Movie Critic\n\nUpdated\n\nDec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m.\n\n![Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. \"The Big Short\" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.]()\n\nMark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. \"The Big Short\" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.\n\nJaap Buitendijk\n\n![Christian Bale plays Michael Burry in The Big Short from Paramount Pictures and Regency Enterprises]()\n\nChristian Bale plays Michael Burry in The Big Short from Paramount Pictures and Regency Enterprises\n\nPhoto credit: Jaap Buitendijk\n\nThe financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which isn’t a drama and isn’t quite a comedy, but more like a bitter farce. The subject has been dealt with in documentaries and in dramas, such that we’ve come to understand the arrogance and crookedness that almost tanked the world economy. What “The Big Short” provides is a proper rendering of the colossal and contemptible stupidity that was also a factor.\n\n![](https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl)\n\nAlmost incidentally, it gives one of the clearest explanations of the collapse that has been put on film. Go in knowing nothing about credit default swaps and CDOs, and you will walk out educated — and in the most painless and amusing way imaginable. A running joke of the movie is that whenever something arcane has to be explained, the movie brings out a glamorous celebrity to do the explaining. It freely acknowledges that it deals in dull material and finds ways to make it enjoyable.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nArticle continues below this ad\n\nThe film is directed by [Adam McKay](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Adam+McKay%22), a comedy director best known for several movies starring [Will Ferrell](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Will+Ferrell%22), including “Anchorman.” For “The Big Short,” he locates a specific tone that allows for a wide range of information and moods. It is funny and then serious, absurd but with consequences, featuring characters who are exaggerated but not ridiculous. The movie has the seeming looseness that can come only with control, demonstrating the free impulses that filmmakers can indulge only when they know exactly what they’re doing.\n\nNow that they’ve gone and made it, the story of “The Big Short” seems tailor-made for the movies. How do you craft a story about a global calamity? How do you make it without creating a total downer, full of dejected people in Ireland and Iceland, homeowners losing their homes, and retired people losing their life savings? Easy! Make a movie about the guys who made their fortunes because of the crisis. There’s your built-in happy ending. And to keep it all from being distasteful, show that they all deserved to get rich, because they were the only ones in the game who weren’t completely insane.\n\nBased on the book by [Michael Lewis](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Michael+Lewis%22), the film follows a handful of investors and hedge-fund managers who saw the collapse coming from a few years off. In the case of Michael Burry ([Christian Bale](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Christian+Bale%22)), he figured it out by actually looking at the thousands of home mortgages that were bundled into Triple-A-rated bonds. He saw that they were filled with balloon mortgages whose monthly payments would triple during 2007, causing defaults guaranteed to turn the bonds into toilet paper. He saw that the banks were lending money to anybody who could sign their name to a mortgage and that the housing market was bound to crater.\n\nTo see what others can’t see — what everyone else swears isn’t there — requires a certain kind of obstinacy, even eccentricity. As Burry, a real-life person, Bale gives us a socially awkward guy who works by himself in a room full of blasting hard-core punk music. When he goes to Goldman Sachs wanting to buy a product betting against the housing market, he’s practically laughed out of the boardroom, but not before three Goldman executives take his money.\n\nAdvertisement\n\nArticle continues below this ad\n\n“The Big Short” is structured so audiences will root for the inevitable — the near-collapse of the entire world economy. From the standpoint of the lead characters, it’s a wonder it takes so long. Even when reality starts to dawn, the market is held up through unjustifiable bond ratings and misguided investor confidence. To watch “The Big Short” is to look forward to seeing the smug look wiped from the faces of everyone who caused the crisis — from the bond salesman peddling junk to the moronic, rapacious salesmen roping people into loans they can’t ever pay back.\n\nAt the heart of the film is [Steve Carell](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Steve+Carell%22), playing the semifictional character [Mark Baum](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mark+Baum%22), a morally driven hedge-fund manager who becomes a surrogate for the audience’s anger. He embodies the film’s tone, as a borderline comic figure who grows in stature and vision.\n\nWith one eye on the ticking clock as it tracks different sets of people betting on the apocalypse — [Brad Pitt](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Brad+Pitt%22) has a nice role as a Wall Street veteran aiding a pair of talented neophytes — “The Big Short” maintains its wit and velocity for its entire 130-minute running time. It’s an impressive achievement, though in the moment it might seem like something else — simply the most relentlessly entertaining film of the last few months.\n\n*[Mick LaSalle](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mick+LaSalle%22) is The [San Francisco Chronicle](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22San+Francisco+Chronicle%22)’s movie critic. E-mail: [mlasalle@sfchronicle.com](mailto:mlasalle@sfchronicle.com \"mlasalle@sfchronicle.com\") Twitter: @MickLaSalle*\n\nAdvertisement\n\nArticle continues below this ad\n\n**The Big Short**\n\n![WILD APPLAUSE](https:\/\/imgs.sfgate.com\/inline\/gxs\/littleman\/1.0.gif)Black comedy. Starring Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Directed by Adam McKay. (R. 130 minutes.)\n\nDec 9, 2015\n\n\\|Updated\n\nDec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m.\n\n![Photo of Mick LaSalle]()\n\n[Mick LaSalle](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/author\/mick-lasalle\/)\n\nMovie Critic\n\nMick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com\n\n[CA Mini Crossword 243 people are playing right now. 248 players solved today. Can you? We created a crossword puzzle just for Californians. 243 people are playing right now. 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Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.]()\n\nMark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. \"The Big Short\" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.\n\nJaap Buitendijk\n\nThe financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which isn’t a drama and isn’t quite a comedy, but more like a bitter farce. The subject has been dealt with in documentaries and in dramas, such that we’ve come to understand the arrogance and crookedness that almost tanked the world economy. What “The Big Short” provides is a proper rendering of the colossal and contemptible stupidity that was also a factor.\n\nAlmost incidentally, it gives one of the clearest explanations of the collapse that has been put on film. Go in knowing nothing about credit default swaps and CDOs, and you will walk out educated — and in the most painless and amusing way imaginable. A running joke of the movie is that whenever something arcane has to be explained, the movie brings out a glamorous celebrity to do the explaining. It freely acknowledges that it deals in dull material and finds ways to make it enjoyable.\n\nArticle continues below this ad\n\nThe film is directed by [Adam McKay](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Adam+McKay%22), a comedy director best known for several movies starring [Will Ferrell](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Will+Ferrell%22), including “Anchorman.” For “The Big Short,” he locates a specific tone that allows for a wide range of information and moods. It is funny and then serious, absurd but with consequences, featuring characters who are exaggerated but not ridiculous. The movie has the seeming looseness that can come only with control, demonstrating the free impulses that filmmakers can indulge only when they know exactly what they’re doing.\n\nNow that they’ve gone and made it, the story of “The Big Short” seems tailor-made for the movies. How do you craft a story about a global calamity? How do you make it without creating a total downer, full of dejected people in Ireland and Iceland, homeowners losing their homes, and retired people losing their life savings? Easy! Make a movie about the guys who made their fortunes because of the crisis. There’s your built-in happy ending. And to keep it all from being distasteful, show that they all deserved to get rich, because they were the only ones in the game who weren’t completely insane.\n\nBased on the book by [Michael Lewis](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Michael+Lewis%22), the film follows a handful of investors and hedge-fund managers who saw the collapse coming from a few years off. In the case of Michael Burry ([Christian Bale](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Christian+Bale%22)), he figured it out by actually looking at the thousands of home mortgages that were bundled into Triple-A-rated bonds. He saw that they were filled with balloon mortgages whose monthly payments would triple during 2007, causing defaults guaranteed to turn the bonds into toilet paper. He saw that the banks were lending money to anybody who could sign their name to a mortgage and that the housing market was bound to crater.\n\nTo see what others can’t see — what everyone else swears isn’t there — requires a certain kind of obstinacy, even eccentricity. As Burry, a real-life person, Bale gives us a socially awkward guy who works by himself in a room full of blasting hard-core punk music. When he goes to Goldman Sachs wanting to buy a product betting against the housing market, he’s practically laughed out of the boardroom, but not before three Goldman executives take his money.\n\nArticle continues below this ad\n\n“The Big Short” is structured so audiences will root for the inevitable — the near-collapse of the entire world economy. From the standpoint of the lead characters, it’s a wonder it takes so long. Even when reality starts to dawn, the market is held up through unjustifiable bond ratings and misguided investor confidence. To watch “The Big Short” is to look forward to seeing the smug look wiped from the faces of everyone who caused the crisis — from the bond salesman peddling junk to the moronic, rapacious salesmen roping people into loans they can’t ever pay back.\n\nAt the heart of the film is [Steve Carell](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Steve+Carell%22), playing the semifictional character [Mark Baum](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mark+Baum%22), a morally driven hedge-fund manager who becomes a surrogate for the audience’s anger. He embodies the film’s tone, as a borderline comic figure who grows in stature and vision.\n\nWith one eye on the ticking clock as it tracks different sets of people betting on the apocalypse — [Brad Pitt](https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/search\/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Brad+Pitt%22) has a nice role as a Wall Street veteran aiding a pair of talented neophytes — “The Big Short” maintains its wit and velocity for its entire 130-minute running time. It’s an impressive achievement, though in the moment it might seem like something else — simply the most relentlessly entertaining film of the last few months.\n\nArticle continues below this ad\n\n**The Big Short**\n\n![WILD APPLAUSE](https:\/\/imgs.sfgate.com\/inline\/gxs\/littleman\/1.0.gif)Black comedy. Starring Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Directed by Adam McKay. (R. 130 minutes.)\n\nDec 9, 2015 \\|Updated Dec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m.\n\n![Photo of Mick LaSalle]()\n\nMovie Critic\n\nMick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	‘The Big Short’ lends dark wit to the big financial crash
Meta Description	The financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which...
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Boilerpipe Text	Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. "The Big Short" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Jaap Buitendijk The financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which isn’t a drama and isn’t quite a comedy, but more like a bitter farce. The subject has been dealt with in documentaries and in dramas, such that we’ve come to understand the arrogance and crookedness that almost tanked the world economy. What “The Big Short” provides is a proper rendering of the colossal and contemptible stupidity that was also a factor. Almost incidentally, it gives one of the clearest explanations of the collapse that has been put on film. Go in knowing nothing about credit default swaps and CDOs, and you will walk out educated — and in the most painless and amusing way imaginable. A running joke of the movie is that whenever something arcane has to be explained, the movie brings out a glamorous celebrity to do the explaining. It freely acknowledges that it deals in dull material and finds ways to make it enjoyable. Article continues below this ad The film is directed by Adam McKay , a comedy director best known for several movies starring Will Ferrell , including “Anchorman.” For “The Big Short,” he locates a specific tone that allows for a wide range of information and moods. It is funny and then serious, absurd but with consequences, featuring characters who are exaggerated but not ridiculous. The movie has the seeming looseness that can come only with control, demonstrating the free impulses that filmmakers can indulge only when they know exactly what they’re doing. Now that they’ve gone and made it, the story of “The Big Short” seems tailor-made for the movies. How do you craft a story about a global calamity? How do you make it without creating a total downer, full of dejected people in Ireland and Iceland, homeowners losing their homes, and retired people losing their life savings? Easy! Make a movie about the guys who made their fortunes because of the crisis. There’s your built-in happy ending. And to keep it all from being distasteful, show that they all deserved to get rich, because they were the only ones in the game who weren’t completely insane. Based on the book by Michael Lewis , the film follows a handful of investors and hedge-fund managers who saw the collapse coming from a few years off. In the case of Michael Burry ( Christian Bale ), he figured it out by actually looking at the thousands of home mortgages that were bundled into Triple-A-rated bonds. He saw that they were filled with balloon mortgages whose monthly payments would triple during 2007, causing defaults guaranteed to turn the bonds into toilet paper. He saw that the banks were lending money to anybody who could sign their name to a mortgage and that the housing market was bound to crater. To see what others can’t see — what everyone else swears isn’t there — requires a certain kind of obstinacy, even eccentricity. As Burry, a real-life person, Bale gives us a socially awkward guy who works by himself in a room full of blasting hard-core punk music. When he goes to Goldman Sachs wanting to buy a product betting against the housing market, he’s practically laughed out of the boardroom, but not before three Goldman executives take his money. Article continues below this ad “The Big Short” is structured so audiences will root for the inevitable — the near-collapse of the entire world economy. From the standpoint of the lead characters, it’s a wonder it takes so long. Even when reality starts to dawn, the market is held up through unjustifiable bond ratings and misguided investor confidence. To watch “The Big Short” is to look forward to seeing the smug look wiped from the faces of everyone who caused the crisis — from the bond salesman peddling junk to the moronic, rapacious salesmen roping people into loans they can’t ever pay back. At the heart of the film is Steve Carell , playing the semifictional character Mark Baum , a morally driven hedge-fund manager who becomes a surrogate for the audience’s anger. He embodies the film’s tone, as a borderline comic figure who grows in stature and vision. With one eye on the ticking clock as it tracks different sets of people betting on the apocalypse — Brad Pitt has a nice role as a Wall Street veteran aiding a pair of talented neophytes — “The Big Short” maintains its wit and velocity for its entire 130-minute running time. It’s an impressive achievement, though in the moment it might seem like something else — simply the most relentlessly entertaining film of the last few months. Article continues below this ad The Big Short Black comedy. Starring Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Directed by Adam McKay. (R. 130 minutes.) Dec 9, 2015 \| Updated Dec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m. Movie Critic Mick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com
Markdown	SF Gate Logo Hearst Newspapers Logo [Skip to main content](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/The-Big-Short-an-entertaining-walk-through-6686845.php#content) [CA MINI CROSSWORD](https://www.sfgate.com/california-mini-crossword-puzzle-puzzmo/?utm_source=masthead&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=campaignname&utm_term=camini) [Home](https://www.sfgate.com/) - [Classifieds](http://sfc.ipublishmarketplace.com/sf-marketplace/) - [Standards & Practices](https://www.sfgate.com/standards/) - [Advertise With Us](https://marketing.sfgate.com/advertise-with-us-today?utm_source=sfgate) - [Privacy Notice](https://www.sfgate.com/privacy/) - [Terms of Use](https://www.sfgate.com/terms/) - [Ad Choices](http://www.aboutads.info/choices/) - [Your Privacy Choices](https://www.sfgate.com/yourdata/) [About SFGATE](https://www.sfgate.com/home/article/about-sfgate-15613713.php) [Careers](https://eevd.fa.us6.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_11007/requisitions?keyword=SFGATE&mode=location) [Contact SFGATE](https://www.sfgate.com/home/article/sfgate-staff-15734829.php) [Newsletters](https://link.sfgate.com/join/signup-sfgate) [News](https://www.sfgate.com/news/) - [Bay Area](https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/) - [California Wildfires](https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/) - [Education](https://www.sfgate.com/education/) - [North Coast](https://www.sfgate.com/northcoast/) - [Politics](https://www.sfgate.com/politics/) - [Weather](https://www.sfgate.com/weather/) [Sports](https://www.sfgate.com/sports/) - [49ers](https://www.sfgate.com/49ers/) - [Giants](https://www.sfgate.com/giants/) - [A's](https://www.sfgate.com/athletics/) - [Warriors](https://www.sfgate.com/warriors/) [Bay Area](https://www.sfgate.com/local/) - [SF History](https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/) [Travel](https://www.sfgate.com/travel/) - [California Parks](https://www.sfgate.com/california-parks/) - [Central Coast](https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/) - [Disneyland](https://www.sfgate.com/disneyland/) - [Hawaii](https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/) - [Monterey-Carmel](https://www.sfgate.com/monterey-carmel/) - [Tahoe](https://www.sfgate.com/renotahoe/) - [Wine Country](https://www.sfgate.com/winecountry/) [Food + Drink](https://www.sfgate.com/food/) [Culture](https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/) [Tech](https://www.sfgate.com/tech/) [Los Angeles](https://www.sfgate.com/la/) [California](https://www.sfgate.com/california/) [National Parks](https://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/) [Real Estate](https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/) - [New Homes](https://www.sfgate.com/newhomes/) - [(Virtual) Open Homes](https://www.sfgate.com/openhomes/) - [Luxury](https://www.sfgate.com/luxuryhomes/) - [Rentals](https://www.sfgate.com/rentals/) - [Place a Real Estate Ad](https://myagentads.hearst.com/realestate/sfchronicle/index.html) - [Neighborhood Guides](https://www.sfgate.com/sfneighborhoods/) - [Home & Garden](https://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/) - [Movers](https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/movers/) [Obits](https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate?ipid=desktopnav9-12) - [Obituaries](https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate?ipid=desktopnav9-12) - [Place an Obituary](https://ezads.hearst.com/obits/sfchronicle/index.html) [Best Of](https://www.sfgate.com/best/) [Shopping](https://www.sfgate.com/shopping/) [Puzzles](https://www.sfgate.com/puzzles/) [Sponsor Content](https://www.sfgate.com/sponsoredarticles/lifestyle/) - [StoryStudio](https://storystudio.sfgate.com/) - [Paid Press Releases](https://www.sfgate.com/business/press-releases/) - [Senior Living](https://www.sfgate.com/senior-living/) - [Sponsor Content: Business](https://www.sfgate.com/sponsoredarticles/business/) [SF Gate Logo](https://www.sfgate.com/) [CA MINI CROSSWORD](https://www.sfgate.com/california-mini-crossword-puzzle-puzzmo/?utm_source=masthead&utm_medium=button&utm_campaign=campaignname&utm_term=camini) [Entertainment](https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/)\\|[Movies](https://www.sfgate.com/movies/) # ‘The Big Short’ lends dark wit to the big financial crash By [Mick LaSalle](https://www.sfgate.com/author/mick-lasalle/), Movie Critic Updated Dec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m. ![Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. "The Big Short" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.]() Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. "The Big Short" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Jaap Buitendijk ![Christian Bale plays Michael Burry in The Big Short from Paramount Pictures and Regency Enterprises]() Christian Bale plays Michael Burry in The Big Short from Paramount Pictures and Regency Enterprises Photo credit: Jaap Buitendijk The financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which isn’t a drama and isn’t quite a comedy, but more like a bitter farce. The subject has been dealt with in documentaries and in dramas, such that we’ve come to understand the arrogance and crookedness that almost tanked the world economy. What “The Big Short” provides is a proper rendering of the colossal and contemptible stupidity that was also a factor. ![](https://cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co/events/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl) Almost incidentally, it gives one of the clearest explanations of the collapse that has been put on film. Go in knowing nothing about credit default swaps and CDOs, and you will walk out educated — and in the most painless and amusing way imaginable. A running joke of the movie is that whenever something arcane has to be explained, the movie brings out a glamorous celebrity to do the explaining. It freely acknowledges that it deals in dull material and finds ways to make it enjoyable. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The film is directed by [Adam McKay](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Adam+McKay%22), a comedy director best known for several movies starring [Will Ferrell](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Will+Ferrell%22), including “Anchorman.” For “The Big Short,” he locates a specific tone that allows for a wide range of information and moods. It is funny and then serious, absurd but with consequences, featuring characters who are exaggerated but not ridiculous. The movie has the seeming looseness that can come only with control, demonstrating the free impulses that filmmakers can indulge only when they know exactly what they’re doing. Now that they’ve gone and made it, the story of “The Big Short” seems tailor-made for the movies. How do you craft a story about a global calamity? How do you make it without creating a total downer, full of dejected people in Ireland and Iceland, homeowners losing their homes, and retired people losing their life savings? Easy! Make a movie about the guys who made their fortunes because of the crisis. There’s your built-in happy ending. And to keep it all from being distasteful, show that they all deserved to get rich, because they were the only ones in the game who weren’t completely insane. Based on the book by [Michael Lewis](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Michael+Lewis%22), the film follows a handful of investors and hedge-fund managers who saw the collapse coming from a few years off. In the case of Michael Burry ([Christian Bale](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Christian+Bale%22)), he figured it out by actually looking at the thousands of home mortgages that were bundled into Triple-A-rated bonds. He saw that they were filled with balloon mortgages whose monthly payments would triple during 2007, causing defaults guaranteed to turn the bonds into toilet paper. He saw that the banks were lending money to anybody who could sign their name to a mortgage and that the housing market was bound to crater. To see what others can’t see — what everyone else swears isn’t there — requires a certain kind of obstinacy, even eccentricity. As Burry, a real-life person, Bale gives us a socially awkward guy who works by himself in a room full of blasting hard-core punk music. When he goes to Goldman Sachs wanting to buy a product betting against the housing market, he’s practically laughed out of the boardroom, but not before three Goldman executives take his money. Advertisement Article continues below this ad “The Big Short” is structured so audiences will root for the inevitable — the near-collapse of the entire world economy. From the standpoint of the lead characters, it’s a wonder it takes so long. Even when reality starts to dawn, the market is held up through unjustifiable bond ratings and misguided investor confidence. To watch “The Big Short” is to look forward to seeing the smug look wiped from the faces of everyone who caused the crisis — from the bond salesman peddling junk to the moronic, rapacious salesmen roping people into loans they can’t ever pay back. At the heart of the film is [Steve Carell](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Steve+Carell%22), playing the semifictional character [Mark Baum](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mark+Baum%22), a morally driven hedge-fund manager who becomes a surrogate for the audience’s anger. He embodies the film’s tone, as a borderline comic figure who grows in stature and vision. With one eye on the ticking clock as it tracks different sets of people betting on the apocalypse — [Brad Pitt](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Brad+Pitt%22) has a nice role as a Wall Street veteran aiding a pair of talented neophytes — “The Big Short” maintains its wit and velocity for its entire 130-minute running time. It’s an impressive achievement, though in the moment it might seem like something else — simply the most relentlessly entertaining film of the last few months. [Mick LaSalle](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mick+LaSalle%22) is The [San Francisco Chronicle](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22San+Francisco+Chronicle%22)’s movie critic. E-mail: [mlasalle@sfchronicle.com](mailto:mlasalle@sfchronicle.com "mlasalle@sfchronicle.com") Twitter: @MickLaSalle Advertisement Article continues below this ad The Big Short ![WILD APPLAUSE](https://imgs.sfgate.com/inline/gxs/littleman/1.0.gif)Black comedy. Starring Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Directed by Adam McKay. (R. 130 minutes.) Dec 9, 2015 \\|Updated Dec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m. ![Photo of Mick LaSalle]() [Mick LaSalle](https://www.sfgate.com/author/mick-lasalle/) Movie Critic Mick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com [CA Mini Crossword 243 people are playing right now. 248 players solved today. Can you? We created a crossword puzzle just for Californians. 243 people are playing right now. 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Readable Markdown	![Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. "The Big Short" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.]() Mark Baum (Steve Carell, left) and Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling, right) are characters based on real people who really saw the financial collapse coming ... and made millions on it. "The Big Short" opens Dec. 23. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk, courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Jaap Buitendijk The financial crisis of 2008-09 gets the movie it deserves with “The Big Short,” which isn’t a drama and isn’t quite a comedy, but more like a bitter farce. The subject has been dealt with in documentaries and in dramas, such that we’ve come to understand the arrogance and crookedness that almost tanked the world economy. What “The Big Short” provides is a proper rendering of the colossal and contemptible stupidity that was also a factor. Almost incidentally, it gives one of the clearest explanations of the collapse that has been put on film. Go in knowing nothing about credit default swaps and CDOs, and you will walk out educated — and in the most painless and amusing way imaginable. A running joke of the movie is that whenever something arcane has to be explained, the movie brings out a glamorous celebrity to do the explaining. It freely acknowledges that it deals in dull material and finds ways to make it enjoyable. Article continues below this ad The film is directed by [Adam McKay](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Adam+McKay%22), a comedy director best known for several movies starring [Will Ferrell](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Will+Ferrell%22), including “Anchorman.” For “The Big Short,” he locates a specific tone that allows for a wide range of information and moods. It is funny and then serious, absurd but with consequences, featuring characters who are exaggerated but not ridiculous. The movie has the seeming looseness that can come only with control, demonstrating the free impulses that filmmakers can indulge only when they know exactly what they’re doing. Now that they’ve gone and made it, the story of “The Big Short” seems tailor-made for the movies. How do you craft a story about a global calamity? How do you make it without creating a total downer, full of dejected people in Ireland and Iceland, homeowners losing their homes, and retired people losing their life savings? Easy! Make a movie about the guys who made their fortunes because of the crisis. There’s your built-in happy ending. And to keep it all from being distasteful, show that they all deserved to get rich, because they were the only ones in the game who weren’t completely insane. Based on the book by [Michael Lewis](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Michael+Lewis%22), the film follows a handful of investors and hedge-fund managers who saw the collapse coming from a few years off. In the case of Michael Burry ([Christian Bale](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Christian+Bale%22)), he figured it out by actually looking at the thousands of home mortgages that were bundled into Triple-A-rated bonds. He saw that they were filled with balloon mortgages whose monthly payments would triple during 2007, causing defaults guaranteed to turn the bonds into toilet paper. He saw that the banks were lending money to anybody who could sign their name to a mortgage and that the housing market was bound to crater. To see what others can’t see — what everyone else swears isn’t there — requires a certain kind of obstinacy, even eccentricity. As Burry, a real-life person, Bale gives us a socially awkward guy who works by himself in a room full of blasting hard-core punk music. When he goes to Goldman Sachs wanting to buy a product betting against the housing market, he’s practically laughed out of the boardroom, but not before three Goldman executives take his money. Article continues below this ad “The Big Short” is structured so audiences will root for the inevitable — the near-collapse of the entire world economy. From the standpoint of the lead characters, it’s a wonder it takes so long. Even when reality starts to dawn, the market is held up through unjustifiable bond ratings and misguided investor confidence. To watch “The Big Short” is to look forward to seeing the smug look wiped from the faces of everyone who caused the crisis — from the bond salesman peddling junk to the moronic, rapacious salesmen roping people into loans they can’t ever pay back. At the heart of the film is [Steve Carell](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Steve+Carell%22), playing the semifictional character [Mark Baum](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Mark+Baum%22), a morally driven hedge-fund manager who becomes a surrogate for the audience’s anger. He embodies the film’s tone, as a borderline comic figure who grows in stature and vision. With one eye on the ticking clock as it tracks different sets of people betting on the apocalypse — [Brad Pitt](https://www.sfgate.com/search/?action=search&channel=movies&inlineLink=1&searchindex=property&query=%22Brad+Pitt%22) has a nice role as a Wall Street veteran aiding a pair of talented neophytes — “The Big Short” maintains its wit and velocity for its entire 130-minute running time. It’s an impressive achievement, though in the moment it might seem like something else — simply the most relentlessly entertaining film of the last few months. Article continues below this ad The Big Short ![WILD APPLAUSE](https://imgs.sfgate.com/inline/gxs/littleman/1.0.gif)Black comedy. Starring Steve Carell and Christian Bale. Directed by Adam McKay. (R. 130 minutes.) Dec 9, 2015 \\|Updated Dec 10, 2015 12:48 p.m. ![Photo of Mick LaSalle]() Movie Critic Mick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: askmicklasalle@gmail.com
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