The Big Short is absolutely demented. A blood boiling, entertaining, intelligent, big thrills masquerade ball detailing the lies and deception that plagued this nation. It’s more like THE BIG STEW, as it simultaneously boils down a myriad of ingredients, brilliantly representing its vital subject matter.

The power of a gifted comedy writer/director is absolute magic. McKay approaches this subject matter in a way no typical dramatic filmmaker could. McKay adds a unique perspective and is able to properly implement big lampoon laughs and high-octane energy that allows us to process this corrupt circus from a whole unique viewpoint. It’s truly frightening how timeless this movie will end up being. McKay shoots the The Big Short like a global epidemic, and moves that camera, adds visual effects, and spastically edits in a way that makes your blood boil. Most impressive are the hilarious fourth-wall breaking cameos, to help assess some of the film’s more complicated economic jargon.

The entire ensemble is fabulous, especially Steve Carell, Melissa Leo (in a cameo) and Ryan Gosling. Though it’s Christian Bale who knocks it out of the park as Dr. Michael Burry, a heavy-metal loving asbergerish numbers savant, who made billions for his fund by actually reading all the sub-prime mortgages bundled in bonds and betting $1.2 billion on credit default swaps. Some of the financial jargon may go over some’s heads (luckily I’m taking Advanced Macroeconomics and we just covered the financial crisis), but this a wickedly smart, vital, passionate piece of filmmaking. The film ends with an epilogue; suffice it to say that if the movie itself is not a strong enough wake-up call, this last moment will be. Downright spine-chilling.

Overall, The Big Short is boundary breaking for the common ensemble drama, but I gasp in fear how accessible this will end up being for typical audiences. Paramount made a risky bet distributing a film like The Big Short over the holidays, but I hope there is a big pay off, like there was for the characters in this film, as this may just be the most important film you will see all year