Dumb Money

Dumb Money is a 2023 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. It is based on the 2021 book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich and chronicles the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D'Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, Sebastian Stan, Shailene Woodley, and Seth Rogen. After being filmed in New Jersey from October to November of 2022, Dumb Money premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2023. It was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing in select theaters on September 15, 2023, and wide release on September 29, 2023. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Plot Keith Gill is a lower middle class man working as a financial analyst out of Brockton, Massachusetts. During his off time, he regularly frequents the stock market subreddit r/WallStreetBets, posting his opinions on it via YouTube live streams under the name Roaring Kitty. He struggles to provide for his family, and his YouTube work is constantly mocked by his brother Kevin as nerdy garbage. In June 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Keith notices that video game retailer GameStop's stock is falling and sinks his life savings into buying stock in it, regularly live streaming updates with his viewers. Despite Kevin and several peers claiming this is a waste of time, by January 2021, activity on r/WallStreetBets reveals that several hedge fund investment firms, including Melvin Capital Management and its founder Gabe Plotkin, have been short selling stock in the chain on the assumption it would close, causing a mass increase in GameStop's overall stock price when online stock buyers, including struggling nurse Jennifer, GameStop retail employee Marcos, and lesbian college couple Riri and Harmony, start aggressively buying stock, causing Plotkin and other investment CEO's to lose hundreds of millions within the same timeframe and Keith to be heralded as a financial guru.