"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works."
Michael Douglas famously uttered those words in Oliver Stone's 1987 picture, Wall Street. The film served as an indictment of the excess that came to mark the era of Reagan and New Coke. Douglas earned an Oscar for his portrayal of corporate raider, Gordon Gekko, who became the epitome of yuppy capitalist culture gone wrong. The Faustian tale saw Gekko as the devil on the shoulder of young Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) as he's seduced by the dark side. Released two months after the stock market crash of '87, Wall Street was eerily prophetic and, over twenty years later, remains so. Unfortunately, they either didn't listen or got the message wrong.
"Greed is good," was meant to be a warning. Instead, it became a rallying call. Aspiring stock brokers cited Gordon Gekko as their inspiration. In Boiler Room, a group of hotshot traders recite whole lines of dialogue from Wall Street as if they were holy scripture. Now, the economy is in the worst shape it's been since the Great Depression. What better time for the return of Gordon Gekko?
The long-gestating sequel, Money Never Sleeps, opens in 2001 as Gekko is released from prison after an eight year sentence for securities fraud. The scene in which Gekko is given his paraphernalia is played as both comical and poetically fitting. He's handed a "gold money clip with no money in it" and a ridiculously oversized mobile phone. The penthouse predator who once spouted, "Lunch is for wimps," is reduced to a joke without a pot to piss in or a ride.
Flash forward to 2008 and we are at the nascent of the current economic collapse. Jacob Moore (Shia LaBeouf) is a stock trader with an interest in alternative energy. He also happens to be engaged to Gekko's estranged daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), a blogger for a liberal news website. Winnie hasn't spoken to her father in years and blames him for the suicide of her brother. The destinies of Gekko and the younger generation are intertwined following the suicide of Jacob's boss, Louis Zabel (Frank Langella).
A mentor and father figure to Jacob, Zabel saw his company (a composite of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers) ruined due to false rumors of insolvency spread by Bretton James (Josh Brolin) of the rival Churchill Schwartz. He's a new breed of boardroom bastard, the kind who proudly displays a copy of Goya's gruesome "Saturn Devouring His Children" in his office. Zabel is forced to sell out for pennies on the dime then steps in front of a subway train. In a classic character moment, Gekko responds with quiet respect. At least, Zabel had the "balls to commit suicide." Gekko offers a trade. He will assist in Jacob's revenge scheme against Bretton James in exchange for reuniting him with Winnie.
Money Never Sleeps is a slickly made film thanks to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (21 Grams, Brokeback Mountain) who makes New York City and Manhattan come alive. Stone (the son of a stockbroker) and screenwriters Allan Loeb (who once worked at the Chicago Board of Trade) and Stephen Schiff haven't created an in-depth expose of economic collapse. It is merely the backdrop for a more intimate story. However, the filmmakers can't help but diverge from the central plot to lecture the audience and utilize the sledgehammer of plot.
The movie really drags when breaks out a large chunks of exposition as LaBeouf explains fusion, complete with an animated graphics to really drive it home. Later, Stone matches a Dow Jones line chart with the New York City skyline, threatening to turn his film into a glorified Powerpoint presentation. The symbolism is heavy handed with talks about bubbles bursting and a child blowing bubbles in Central Park. Susan Sarandon is cast as Jacob's mother, a real estate agent who looks like a castaway from The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Her subplot feels shoehorned in simply for Stone to comment on the crash of the housing market.
What strengthens Money Never Sleeps is the sparkling dialogue by Loeb and Schiff and an incredibly game cast. Michael Douglas slips right into the skin of Gordon Gekko and is absolutely magnetic from the get-go. His teeth have been dulled, but he remains just as sharp. Even a slightly domesticated Gekko is still cooler than anybody else. It's easy to see why he became an inspiration rather than a cautionary figure. Gekko is at his most vulnerable when delivering a heartfelt speech about his wayward boy. The moment bleeds into real life as it mirrors Douglas and the drug problems of his own son, Cameron.
As Winnie Gekko, Carey Mulligan is the heart of the film and she's the second best actor in it. LaBeouf could have been the weak link, but surrounded by actors like Douglas, Mulligan, Frank Langella, and Josh Brolin, he manages to step it up. Special notice should be given to the 94-year old Eli Wallach as a grizzled partner at Churchill who was old enough to have lived through the Depression.
Charlie Sheen makes a quick cameo as Bud Fox who has become extremely Charlie Sheen-like over the years.
Rating: ** ½
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