hbo premiered "too big to fail" last night. the film was based on andrew ross sorkin's novel of the same title.
when it was over, i was somehow disappointed and exhilarated.
back story: i rented the audio book from the library and listened whilst running (for some odd reason i can't just "read" nonfiction anymore); however, i accidentally heard the first two hours under my ipod's shuffle setting. william hughes, the narrator, was so compelling that i thought sorkin just had an interesting writing style. needless to say, i only made it to about chapter five before i had to return the audio book to the library.
i was disappointed that the time i invested in the novel was over in the first six minutes of the film. i enjoyed dick fuld's background and i found erin callan's story particularly intriguing. i obviously did not get very far in the book, but there was a lot of detail, emotion, and juicy gossip that just didn't have time for portrayal in the movie.
i did enjoy the humor, timeline, and questions poised throughout the film. i also forgot about how john mccain suspended his campaign to return to washington during the crisis - so thanks for reminding me. overall, the cast was great. evan handler as lloyld blankfein was my favorite, but ayad akhtar's version of neel kashkari was lukewarm.
the purpose of the novel was to humanize the 2008 financial crisis. the film did so, but failed to meet its potential, seemingly more focused on the logistical lessons learned from the immediate events which led to and the ultimate passage of the troubled assets relief program. i believe, on content, sorkin's work would have thrived as a miniseries - but i don't think it would've generated a great enough audience to merit that length.
the film didn't have the personal emotional gravitas that i was expecting - but it did make those historic events accessible to outsiders who would not have necessarily read the book. for more insight, i would highly recommend watching this 20-minute video:
and at the end of the day, the film did make me want to re-checkout the audio book from the library.
