This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

I knew this film was something to do with business, but I did remember seeing a television review for it, I must have forgotten the time during which it is set, so I was certainly hoping it would be interesting, written and directed by J.C. Chandor (All Is Lost, A Most Violent Year). Basically set in 2008, during a 24-hour period, at an unnamed respected a Wall Street investment bank, the financial company is forced into downsizing. Among the key players let go is head of risk management Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), following his departure junior risk analyst Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) works late into the night to finish Dale's project. Sullivan discovers the company's financial disaster, due to excessive leverage, the company's assets could decrease rapidly and the firm will go bankrupt, what follows will turn from panicking to double-checking and double-dealing. Sullivan and fellow junior analyst Seth Bregman (Penn Badgley) tell their desk head Will Emerson (Paul Bettany) about the situation, he alerts floor head Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey), they attempt to contact Dale, with no luck. The senior executives include division head Jared Cohen (Simon Baker), chief risk management officer Sarah Robertson (Demi Moore), and finally CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), they will do whatever it takes to lessen the force of intensity in this debacle. A series of meetings occur throughout the night, as the news travels up through the ranks, but whatever decisions are made in terms of staff cuts and all business matters, they will have effects and consequences both morally and financially. Also starring Penn Badgley as Seth Bregman and Mary McDonnell as Mary Rogers. The performances by the all-star cast are all great, and the script is full of lots of technical dialogue I honestly don't understand, I certainly don't understand all the components that lead to the 2008 financial crisis, but this is a good story, making the characters humanised, and it feels claustrophobic, all in all it is a worthwhile drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. Good!

The story behind this biography-drama-thriller is the only thing that kept me interested. It was well written to play out over such a short period of time.Where it fell short for me was assembling such a great A-list cast that seemed they were forced to play their roles. I felt that not one of these A-listers where passionate enough in their character, and all seemed rather stale. The only exception (and not by a large margin), was Jeremy Irons, who was the only convincing character in this film.The pace was very slow, and perhaps adding an appropriate score may have made it feel faster, as it felt there was just too much blank/boring time in between scenes.So it's a 7/10 mainly for the interesting writing.

Heavily understated and implied reenactment of one unnamed firm's involvement in the 2008 stockmarket crash. I have had a bit to do with share trading (was never too good at it) so I know the background of what is being discussed and enacted, but many wouldn't I believe. Even "Margin Call" is never discussed or explained, and a trading screen is never seen in close-up.There is a certain tension in the movie, you do sense something big and terrible on a global scale is about to happen, but you never get to actually see it. What you do see is people who would like to do otherwise (like according to conscience) being bought off because of the Almighty Dollar - yeah f#$k, give me a million and I'll write what you like...6/10

What an excellent cast for this movie that depicts how the Wall Street collapse of 2008-9 could have been triggered. The firm seems to have overextended itself. Now what were they going to do about it?This film featured excellent acting, and tight script, and really strong character development. You really felt you learned some of the key parts of each person within the swift 1hr40min film.It was interesting to see how the chain of command was played out, with Zach Quinto reporting to their boss Will (Paul Bettan) who reports to Sam (Kevin Spacey) who reports to Jared (Simon Baker) who finally reports to CEO Jeremy Irons. But in the end, the CEO got the straight story directly from the young Quinto. The director JC Chandor did a terrific job depicting the cut throat life on Wall St, layoffs, big money, fascination with salaries, it all revolves around money. No apologies were made for making the money, or losing the money. Perhaps you learned the most from the CEO's chat with Sam at the end. In the end, it seems with sad acceptance that we all are slaves to money in some sort. the movie is telling us that there are always winners, and losers, and you don't need to apologize for being either. This was a far superior film compared to the trashy Wolf of Wall St. Margin Call makes you think a lot about what is really important in your life at the end of the day. Money, sure, but other stuff needs to play a key role too.You should really enjoy this film - great acting, great screenplay, great direction.