The Big Short

The Big Short tells the story of how four men – Michael Burry (Christian Bale), Mark Baum (Steve Carell), Jared Vennett (Ryan Gosling), and Ben Rickert (Brad Pitt) – made millions by betting against the housing market before its 2008 collapse. The film depicts how Burry, a hedge fund manager, recognizes the instability of the U.S. housing market due to subprime loans, while Baum, a Wall Street trader, comes to realize that the entire world economy is set to collapse. As defaults increase and credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations rise in value, Vennett and Rickert help their team invest in credit default swaps, leading them to huge profits but also losing their faith in the system.