Too Big to Fail (film)

Plot

In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis is affecting investment banks that have amassed massive real estate holdings. The fifth-largest investment bank, Bear Stearns, is taken over by JPMorgan Chase after its sale is subsidised by Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson. In the midst of an election year, Paulson is wary of funding more ‘bailouts’. Shares of the fourth largest bank, Lehman Brothers, have lost significant value. Despite this, CEO Richard Fuld turns down offers from Warren Buffett and South Korean investors, while holding out for favorable terms, At market close on Friday, September 12, shares of Lehman are trading in single-digits and the bank’s future seems uncertain.

Timothy Geithner, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, implores Paulson to allow federal guarantees towards expediting a merger of Lehman with Bank of America. Instead, Paulson wants the other affected banks to help rescue Lehman. Along with Geithner and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, he convenes an emergency meeting of bank CEOs to resolve the Lehman issue. Banks discuss buying out Lehman’s devalued real estate assets, however, Bank of America announces a surprise merger with Lehman-rival Merrill Lynch instead. The main US buyer out, attention veers towards Barclays but British regulators refuse to relax restrictions, as they ‘do not want to import … [America’s] … cancer’. With no sale imminent by September 15, Lehman declares bankruptcy.

The fallout from the failure is immediate and far-reaching. The stock market crashes, leading investors to withdraw deposits. As a result, banks stop making new loans, freezing the credit market for businesses who cannot quickly borrow money for their operations. Even General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt feels their business affected. Amidst this, French Finance minister Christine Lagarde pressures Paulson to not let AIG fail like Lehman, since the firm is too interconnected in international business. AIG receives an $85 billion federal loan; banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs avoid Lehman’s fate, by striking deals with Mitsubishi and Buffett respectively.

Ben Bernanke believes unfreezing credit is a priority, else the situation could devolve into a generational crisis like the 1929 Depression. Paulson’s team of Neel Kashkari and Jim Wilkinson lobby Congress for blanket funds to deal with any developing situation. Their $700 billion proposal is rejected, and negotiations further stall when Republican Presidential nominee, John McCain, shows up mid-campaign to politicise the issue. Paulson talks down McCain from interfering, and a revised proposal called TARP is passed. Despite now having funds, the plan to buy out toxic assets from the system proves “too slow”. Advisor Dan Jester proposes injecting money into the system through the banks to unfreeze credit.

As part of the scheme, major banks are given loans worth $125 billion, to collectively lend out to borrowers. Very few restrictions are placed on them, however, since the government does not want to seem as if they are interfering with the banks. Realizing the irony of the situation, communications advisor Michele Davis laments that the same banks that caused the crisis are now also dictating terms. As credits roll, an epilogue reveals that credit conditions did not ease until 2009 when the market freefall was arrested. Meanwhile, the funds received by the banks facilitated new highs in Wall Street compensation, which rose to $135 billion by 2010.

Cast

The cast includes the following:

• William Hurt as Henry Paulson (U.S. Treasury Secretary and former Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs)
• Edward Asner as Warren Buffett (Primary shareholder, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway)
• Billy Crudup as Timothy Geithner (President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York)
• Paul Giamatti as Ben Bernanke (Chair of the Federal Reserve)
• Topher Grace as Jim Wilkinson (Chief of Staff, U.S. Treasury Department)
• Matthew Modine as John Thain (Chairman and CEO, Merrill Lynch)
• Cynthia Nixon as Michele Davis (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Public Relations and Director of Policy Planning)
• Michael O'Keefe as Chris Flowers (Chairman and CEO, J.C. Flowers & Co.)
• Bill Pullman as Jamie Dimon (Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase)
• Tony Shalhoub as John Mack (Chairman and CEO, Morgan Stanley)
• James Woods as Dick Fuld (Chairman and CEO, Lehman Brothers)
• Ayad Akhtar as Neel Kashkari (Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Economics and Development)
• Kathy Baker as Wendy Paulson (Wife of Henry Paulson)
• Amy Carlson as Erin Callan (CFO, Lehman Brothers)
• Erin Dilly as Christal West, assistant to Hank Paulson
• Evan Handler as Lloyd Blankfein (Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs)
• John Heard as Joe Gregory (President and COO, Lehman Brothers)
• Dan Hedaya as Rep. Barney Frank (Chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee (D-MA))
• Peter Hermann as Christopher Cox (Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission)
• Chance Kelly as Bart McDade (President and COO, Lehman Brothers)
• Tom Mason as Bob Willumstad (Chairman and CEO, AIG)
• Ajay Mehta as Vikram Pandit (CEO, Citigroup)
• Tom Tammi as Jeff Immelt (CEO, General Electric)
• Laila Robins as Christine Lagarde (French Finance Minister)
• Victor Slezak as Greg Curl (Director of Planning, Bank of America)
• Joey Slotnick as Dan Jester (Retired Goldman Sachs banker and newly appointed Paulson Advisor)
• Casey Biggs as Richard Kovacevich (Chairman, Wells Fargo & Company)
• Steve Tom as Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)
• Buddy Jones as Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
• Jonathan Freeman as Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL)
• Linda Glick as Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (Speaker of the House of Representatives (D-CA))
• Patricia Randell as Sheila Bair (Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation)
• George Taylor as Sir Callum McCarthy (Chairman of the Financial Services Authority)

Reception

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74%, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. On Metacritic, the movie received a weighted average score of 67/100 from 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The A.V. Club gave the film a B rating.

Awards and nominations

Home media

The DVD was released on June 12, 2012.

Notes

References

References

1. "Too Big to Fail". Complete Season DVDs.
2. "Too Big to Fail: Cast & Crew". [[HBO]].
3. "Too Big to Fail (2011)". [[Fandango Media]].
4. (June 25, 2018). "Too Big To Fail Reviews". [[CBS Interactive]].
5. Tobias, Scott. (May 23, 2011). "Too Big To Fail". [[The Onion]].
6. "2011 Artios Awards".
7. "2011 HPA Awards".
8. "15th Annual TV Awards (2010-11)".
9. "Too Big to Fail". [[Academy of Television Arts & Sciences]].
10. "2011 Satellite Awards". [[International Press Academy]].
11. (June 13, 2011). "The Television Critics Association Announces 2011 TCA Awards Nominees". [[Television Critics Association]].
12. "Nominees/Winners". [[Art Directors Guild]].
13. (January 19, 2012). "'Hanna,' 'Hugo' and 'Moneyball' Nominated for Cinema Audio Society Awards". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
14. "Too Big to Fail – Golden Globes".
15. (January 21, 2012). "Producers Guild Awards Name 'The Artist' Motion Picture of Year; 'Boardwalk Empire' Scores TV Drama (Winners List)". The Hollywood Reporter.
16. "The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". [[Screen Actors Guild Awards]].
17. "Previous Nominees & Winners: 2012 Awards Winners". Writers Guild Awards.
18. "Too Big to Fail". Complete Season DVDs.