Certainly topical but in an admirable, non-preachy way, Margin Call deals with the last days before the 2008 economic crisis. It’s kind of a lower-key alternative to the always heavy-handed Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2 (2010). At a fictional investment bank, low-level traders realize that the omelet is about to hit the fan and bring it to their bosses’ attention. Up and up the chain of command the news goes, with each boss needing simpler and simpler explanations, a problem further exacerbated by a spate of merciless firings that same day. In lieu of Stone’s sweeping melodrama, writer/director J.C. Chandor instead gives us more of a traditional, male-dominated boardroom drama; the 21st century updating of 50s movies like Executive Suite (1954), Patterns (1956) and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956). The all-star cast feels a little calculated to a point that’s almost distracting, but at the same time, it’s hard to not enjoy heavyweights like Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci and Jeremy Irons going at it in the midst of a desperate struggle for survival.
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