The Big Short: this is a true story.

• Author: Slade, Stephanie
• Position: Briefly Noted - Movie review - Brief article

Moral Hazard and The Big Short

If you're strugglingto imagine how watching people holler at each other about synthetic collateral debt obligations could be a fun way to spend two hours, you probably haven't seen The Big Short. The film, based on Michael Lewis' book of the same name, features an all-star cast--Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt--and a seemingly impossible mandate: Derive a mass-market hit from a story about a cadre of financial professionals orchestrating the purchase of huge sums in credit default swaps.

Director Adam McKay (of Anchorman fame) succeeds by wrapping...