Sony Pictures Entertainment has released a trailer for Dumb Money, the upcoming film adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s The Antisocial Network.
The nonfiction book, published in 2021 by Grand Central, tells the true story of the January 2021 GameStop short squeeze, in which Reddit users coordinated to send the price of the video game retailer’s stocks through the roof, shocking Wall Street. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a touch long and wobbly but just the thing for alt-finance geeks with background in trading language and practice.”
The movie stars Paul Dano as Keith Gill, the Reddit user behind the short squeeze, and Pete Davidson as his brother, Kevin Gill. Vincent D’Onofrio plays hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, with Seth Rogen as businessman Gabe Plotkin and Nick Offerman as investor Kenneth C. Griffin.
The trailer begins with Dano staring in disbelief at his computer as the GameStop stock rises. “Holy fucking shit,” he says twice.
In another scene, D’Onofrio says in a telephone conversation, “Retail traders have hooked into GameStop. I think they think it’s a good investment. It looks like there’s one guy driving all the buying.” Later, Offerman says, “Retail traders always lose,” to which Rogen responds by laughing.
Another scene depicts Dano testifying before the House Committee on Financial Services, saying, “A lot of people feel the system is broken. The whole idea of the stock market is if you are smart, and maybe with a little luck, you can make your fortune. Certainly not anymore. There’s no hope for the little guy.”
Dumb Money, written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo and directed by Craig Gillespie, is set to premiere in theaters on Sept. 22.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
