The new Wall Street film, Money Never Sleeps is terrible. It could have been one of the best films of the fall movie season. But just to be clear, from the onset, this movie sucks.
I will be the first to admit that I am a huge fan of the original. Growing up in New York, Wall Street executives were not hard to find. I remember meeting the parents of my friends from school. The fathers who worked on the stock exchange were almost always alpha-males that could buy and sell small countries. Their signature on a piece of paper, or them pushing a button at work, solidifying a trade, meant big doings. And they made sure you knew just how much of a big deal they were.
I can vividly remember all the double breasted suits, cufflinks, suspenders, wing-tipped shoes and Tiffany business card holders. There was a process and style to all of it. I also remember visiting the vacation homes of these corporate raiders, and going out on their boats with their children. By the way, the kids were almost always named Ashe, Brant, Tripp or Carlyle.
Aside from living a few train stops away, my own family had nothing to do with the bond market or Wall Street as an industry. Our clan have never been one for numbers crunching. Of all the family events and gatherings I have attended, I never met a cousin or relative who had even a remote interest in accounting or observing foreign markets.
That’s probably good karma, as fortunes are usually lost on what people thought was a “sure thing” only to realize later that they lost their shirts. But of course a “numbers person” would be nice around tax season.
The original Wall Street film came out in 1986, when I was all of seven years old. I was more concerned with “Knight Rider” and “He-Man” than I was with the goings on downtown. But I remember the first Wall Street movie for being a big deal even back then.
People were talking about it, not just for being entertaining, but for raising concerns and awareness in the public conscience. Regan was in office and the rich were getting richer. It was on everybody’s lips, in the magazines and on TV. The movie was just the visual rendering of things coming full circle.
Though an actual stock broker named Ivan F. Boesky would declare the famed “Greed is Good” line at a University of California – Berkeley event, Michael Douglas playing the cutthroat “Gordon Gecko” would make it so much more menacing and glamorous in the movie.
The Gecko character mirrors some of the more widely known scoundrels of the day. It was almost as if Douglas was created for that role, and to give that stellar performance. I knew he was Hollywood royalty, being the son of Kirk Douglas (Spartacus, Paths of Glory, Lust for Life). But Michael had that certain look of class and ownership that the real moguls would so often exude.
He seemed cut from the same cloth as the actual people he was depicting. With his slicked back hair, menacing grin and the tenacious speeches that are peppered throughout the film, you just knew that Douglas would not have to work too hard to nail the character.
Back then, I was too young to understand all the intricacies of buying, selling and shorting that go into stock and real-estate speculation. It is safe to say that when I first saw the film, the specific details of how the market works were a bit over my head. But I was deeply drawn to the story. I knew that there was significant relevance at the time to what was being shown on screen.
Families I knew personally had started to crumble when the market tanked in the late 80’s. I could see, firsthand, the hardships they were facing, as well as what loomed on their horizon. The fearful looks and constant dread on the faces of my friends at school were all too obvious. They were not sure they if would be back for the following year at our prestigious, and very expensive, Upper East Side private school.
The first Wall Street film was a way of explaining the economic demise of these once wealthy families. Their grandiose way of life was abruptly coming to an end. Their lights burned too bright, too fast and it finally caught up with them. This turn of events was equally embarrassing as it was shameful.
The traders and other self-styled “Masters of The Universe” all contributed to this stereotype of an entire population of money-hungry people doing unethical things on a minute-to-minute basis. The rest of us in New York and throughout the country just watched in awe and amazement to see what would come next.
In the movie, you could see the characters’ bravado masquerading as entrepreneurship, but it was their flaws that made them human. And the film was more enjoyable and real because, by the end, you could see which characters had a soul and were capable of saving, and which one’s were beyond hope.
In the 1980’s, the business of Wall Street did not so much have a face but rather an identity and an aura. There was a brashness and a definitive allure to the traders and their outlooks on business and the world. To chronicle these highfalutin misadventures, Stone rightly cast two men who were not only talented, but easy on the eyes in Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen (Hot Shots, Platoon, Navy Seals) plays Bud Fox, a young executive desperately looking for approval from his blue-collar father. The idea of earning a living and grinding out a career do not appeal to the young upstart. Instead, he wants to make it big… quick. He knows the fastest way to do this is to be taken under the wing of a business titan, a real mover and shaker; someone with an abundance of clout who always has the inside scoop.
Enter Michael Douglas (The Game, Traffic, Solitary Man). He plays the master manipulator in the infamous character, Gordon Gecko. He is an evil mentor, spinning a web of lies and deceit that only encourages Bud to further dishonesties.
It’s a wild ride as we see Bud get sucked deeper into a downward spiral. Gecko plays his young apprentice like a harp from hell, constantly dangling the things that make Bud go even further out of control and into harm’s way.
By offering Bud money, expensive possessions and women, Gecko is getting him more hooked on that drug called success. But it is the power and confidence that Gecko wields elegantly but forcefully that eventually imprisons Bud in Gordon’s pocket. That’s the truest effect of Gecko’s charms: the ability to be above everyone and everything. In essence, to be God-like.
It is difficult to take a film about office work and money transactions and make it interesting to the everyday theatergoer. But the first movie places us in the heart of the trading room floor, where these decisions and practices have the highest consequences.
The basic premise of the first Wall Street film, and what made it so enjoyable, even to the layperson, was the fact that grown men were acting like children. They had traded the playground for the corporate board room, and instead of bragging about how many baskets you could score or comic books you could collect, the new measures of success were of course how fat your wallet was, how many corporate boards you sat on and how good your seats were at the opera.
In the film, these bragging rights are presented so much more seductively; in the back seat of a limo with a hot blonde holding a bottle of champagne; riding dune buggies on pristine beaches in the Hamptons; or handing your father a fat wad of cash and telling him to go take your mom out for a nice meal. For a child, it was once a new baseball glove and the most cutting-edge video game console; but for the new found baron of business, it was trophy girlfriends, over-the-top mansions and Italian sports cars.
The lure of Wall Street is easy to understand. The institution represents the possibility of instant millions, giving it the feel of a casino. The famed brokerage houses are like a fantasy land where the super-rich go to play and the rest of us commoners can only imagine what happens in those offices and cubicles on a daily basis.
The first Wall Street film put everything in perspective. Through the eyes of Bud Fox we see the drive and determination within each of us to go after what we want and then succeed…at least partially. And in the Gordon Gecko character, we see a heartless executioner. Through his actions we see the horrible toll monetary aspirations can have on a person and their family.
The tragic tale of Wall Street is told intelligently and unfolds in a comprehensive manner, while continuously building momentum throughout the entire running time. Most importantly, it wraps up in an honest way, befitting the material.
So when I had heard that a follow-up film was being made, I had reservations as well as high hopes. My feeling is that the truly great stories stand alone and that artistic purity should always trump any possible box office rewards. But I'll never deny feeling a tad giddy that one of my favorite stories was adding another chapter.
I was shocked by the positive reviews from the critics regarding Money Never Sleeps. I feel like no one remembers the stylish way in which Oliver Stone (Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon, World Trade Center) directed his first Wall Street film. After Money Never Sleeps first week in theaters, all I could hear about or read was how the box office loves the new Wall Street movie, and how it is a commercial success.
Nothing could be further from the truth. I was surprised that a film that has as big a following as Wall Street only brought in 19 million dollars in its opening weekend. In contrast, Resident Evil: Afterlife, about space mutants that get turned into sandwich spread by a sexy but lethal heroine, brought in more dough during its opening weekend. And that film did not have an A-List celebrity like Michael Douglas reprising a role for which he won an Academy Award.
And that is probably the most disheartening aspect of all this; you get heavyweights like Stone and Douglas back together and the film falls completely flat. The dialogue is bland and there aren’t even clear-cut heroes and villains. It seems like each character has trouble taking a side or figuring out what their true intentions are.
It is jumbled together, without even glimmers or twinges of greatness, and then wraps up in an unbelievable turn of events that doesn’t make much sense. The ending is a complete departure from the first film and it leaves the audience disappointed and wishing the sequel had never been made.
The first film brilliantly featured the cutthroat nature of the Wall Street marauders. Money Never Sleeps is about Gecko trying to reconnect with his daughter after his time in prison for insider trading.
This focal plot line is the main reason for my disapproval. Gordon Gecko’s family situation is about as interesting as Freddy Krueger’s tax returns.
What everyone wanted to see in the follow-up story to Wall Street was Gordon being the Gecko we know and love. We want to see him on expensive yachts, surrounded by gorgeous women, while pissing off the establishment with his unethical methods of doing business. In essence, he’s the bad guy you want to hang out with.
As the viewer, you are out of luck if you want even a taste of his old behavior. The new Gecko is a shadow of his former self. GG is a reformed man. Prison has taken its toll and done a number on his insatiable appetite for prowess and riches. Gecko’s new existence is mediocre and irrelevant. With a weak central character, the film is a half attempt at the franchises’ earlier glory.
Along with great leading men, there was also a strong supporting cast in the first film. Hal Holbrook (Shade, Midway, All the President’s Men) played the wise old Wall Street veteran that tries to steer Bud in the right direction, but winds up losing him to the talons of Gecko. John C. McGinley (Seven, Any Given Sunday, The Rock) played Bud’s pal, fellow trader and the comedy relief. James Spader (White Palace, Bad Influence, Two Days in the Valley) was another notable talent that was kicked to the curb in this redux.
None of these actors, including Saul Rubinek, Sean Young or Terrence Stamp are anywhere to be found in the second film. But the biggest letdown is that Martin Sheen (The Believers, Apocalypse Now, The Departed) is also left out completely.
The unfortunate reason for all this is simple: the Bud Fox character is not an intricate part of the movie. Sheen makes a brief cameo in the second film. As this was the person that put Gecko in prison, we are expecting fireworks but instead there is a light-hearted and silly dialogue that leaves the audience feeling confused and annoyed.
Money Never Sleeps is completely dumbed down for mass audiences, serving the argument that its only true goal was to make the studios money. You do not even need to see the first film to know the back story. Money Never Sleeps should stand on its own. I would be the happiest guy in the world if I felt that the philistines that actually enjoyed this piece of dreck believed there wasn't a first film. It brings a tear to my eye knowing how spectacular the 1986 movie was, but the sad reality is that it spawned this newest letdown.
For the sake of the genuine fans, this new Wall Street movie should not be compared to or even uttered in the same sentence as the 1986 film. Anyone loyal and appreciative of the first film should stay far away from this sequel, or run the risk of having an iconic story ruined.
Money Never Sleeps does a disservice to the loyal fans that have quoted, epitomized, or used the lessons from the first film in their everyday lives. There was a time when if you referenced "Anacott Steel, "Teldar Paper" or "Blue Star Airlines" people would instantly know exactly what you meant. Listing these fictional companies was the surest way to find out if the person you were talking to was also a knowledgeable fan.
The second film has been simplified to such an extent that a seven-month old toddler could digest it. That’s sad because an industry as complex as Wall Street and a practice as layered as insider trading should not be consumed by your average moviegoer. Particularly one who anxiously waits in line and is most content with features like “Saw VII” in 3D.
The new kid on the block, Carey Mulligan (Brothers, An Education, Public Enemies) is the lone bright spot. She is able to outshine all her male counterparts and deliver a powerful performance, but again, it is the overall content and material that is lacking.
The question that anybody with a brain has to ask themself is how difficult is it to one-up Shia LaBeouf, the talentless cog who plays her love interest? He is completely miscast in this role. For one thing, he doesn’t come close to even resembling a trader. Though he is in his mid-twenties, he looks and acts like a sophomore in high school.
There is a scene where he is garbed in a leather motorcycle outfit and when the audience sees his full frame walking away, he looks eerily like a lower East side dwarf, decked out in S&M gear. His attempts to carry scenes and his overall intensity are tiresome and unnerving.
Apparently LaBeouf is a big box office draw for younger audiences, having appeared in the Transformers movies and the most recent Indiana Jones disaster, “The Crystal Skull.” I could usually care less about the actors that appear in summer blockbusters, but for the kind of caliber material presented during the fall movie season, I thought choosing LaBeouf missed the mark.
I wish I knew what Stone and the producers saw in him. James Franco, (Spiderman, Howl, Milk) Derek Luke, (Antwone Fisher, Lions for Lambs, Friday Night Lights) or even Jessie Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale, The Social Network, Adventureland) would have been much better choices.
Douglas’ performance is also not up to snuff. He does not deliver any of the one-liners or business nuances that made him such a memorable character from the first film. In what is supposed to be his big speech, given to students at Fordham University, nothing remotely interesting or memorable is said. This particular scene is filled with jump cuts and his last line doesn’t resonate at all or have anywhere near the importance or substance as was hopefully intended.
The bad guy in the film is not even all that bad. Josh Brolin (The Goonies, No Country for Old Men, Planet Terror) plays a money manager who causes the death of LaBeouf’s mentor. Brolin has all the physical things needed to be the main anarchist; devilish good looks, expensive suits, and all the toys and social status a man could want, but he does not even come off as all that menacing or evil.
He is more like a petty thief than the reason for the economic sector’s woes, which is exactly what he is unsuccessfully painted as. He is pretty tame by Gecko’s standards, and it’s tough to even consider him an intricate aspect of the film.
Susan Sarandon (Dead Man Walking, Thelma and Louise, The Rocky Horror Picture Show) is also in this boat of unnecessary characters involved in senseless plot twists. She plays LaBeouf’s struggling mother who can’t come to terms with the fact that her real estate business has gone bankrupt. She begs and pleads with her son for more money but the argument falls on deaf ears as no one cares for her or her problems. She also tries to deliver her lines in a Long Island accent that comes off as strained and nauseating.
In keeping with terrible accents, Frank Langella (The Box, Dave, Frost vs. Nixon) plays the aforementioned mentor to LaBeouf. He jumps in front of the six train when he realizes that his investment firm is going belly up. He tries to play the experienced financial guru but delivers his lines with a horrific Jewish accent that could not even cut it on a Seinfeld episode, let alone the big screen.
Eli Wallach (The Ghost Writer, Mystic River, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly) appears for about two scenes, neither of them being memorable or befitting an actor of his talents. He plays Brolin’s boss, and at 95 years old, it’s a miracle that he's still acting. But perhaps the bigger miracle would be to actually hear his lines or understand what he is saying.
My biggest worry about this debacle of a movie this that it will spawn a new breed of Wall Street fan. It’s an undeserved following. The feeble storyline is performed by dismal actors.
Will people yearn to see a third installment? Will the once mighty original film become a mockery like the Hannibal Lector or Terminator movies? Probably.
It’s safe to say that if a profit can be generated than the Hollywood studios will make it happen. Like Gecko said, “Greed is good” but the product is anything but.
I am grateful to Money Never Sleeps for giving me an opportunity to write about the first and best Wall Street story. After all this time, the film still stands up, with lessons that are as true today as they were 23 years ago.
I was too young to write about it back then. But with this most recent continuation of a timeless story, I am able to express my joy in what I consider the quintessential film of the 1980’s. Explore the first Wall Street film again and pretend that the story ends when the credits are rolling and the classic Talking Heads song “Home” begins playing.
One and a half out of five stars.
