There are three things we learn about capitalism from Oliver Stone's film. They are that:
1 Insider trading is bad and illegal and wrong. 2 Asset stripping is bad, because some people lose their jobs. 3 Only bad guys think that "greed is good". Or maybe the message is that only bad guys like Gordon Gecko believe lunch is for wimps. I am not sure. If I were going to make a film about capitalism, I might have more to say about the human and environmental costs.
One good thing about this film is James Spader's brief appearance, as one of the bad guys who likes insider trading and asset stripping. He demonstrates how it is possible to screw people whilst remaining fully clothed. This, alongside the rather similar character he played in "Baby Boom", epitomise the "devious blond yuppy" phase of his career. I once googled "devious blonde yuppy" to see if his name came up - and it did, three times in the first ten hits. Later, with "Dream Lover" and "Wolf", we can see this phase of his career go from merely playing devious men to characters that are actively deviant and (in the case of those two films, evil).
This is not a bad film, but it is not the film that I would have made had I been given the budget and the stars.
1 Insider trading is bad and illegal and wrong. 2 Asset stripping is bad, because some people lose their jobs. 3 Only bad guys think that "greed is good". Or maybe the message is that only bad guys like Gordon Gecko believe lunch is for wimps. I am not sure. If I were going to make a film about capitalism, I might have more to say about the human and environmental costs.
One good thing about this film is James Spader's brief appearance, as one of the bad guys who likes insider trading and asset stripping. He demonstrates how it is possible to screw people whilst remaining fully clothed. This, alongside the rather similar character he played in "Baby Boom", epitomise the "devious blond yuppy" phase of his career. I once googled "devious blonde yuppy" to see if his name came up - and it did, three times in the first ten hits. Later, with "Dream Lover" and "Wolf", we can see this phase of his career go from merely playing devious men to characters that are actively deviant and (in the case of those two films, evil).
This is not a bad film, but it is not the film that I would have made had I been given the budget and the stars.