HBO's "Too Big To Fail" Is "Too Complicated and Too Simple"

That's what Reuters reporter Felix Salmon says of the film adaptation of Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin's best-selling book of the same name.

"Too Big To Fail" the movie, which, like the book, follows the month-long period at the beginning of the financial crisis leading up to the enactment of TARP, stars an insanely long list of A-list actors: William "History of Violence" Hurt (as Hank Paulson), Billy "Jesus' Son" Crudup (Tim Geithner), Paul "Win Win" Giamatti (Ben Bernanke), Ed "Lou Grant" Asner (Warren Buffett), James "Too Many Movies to Name" Woods (Dick Fuld), Bill "Big Love" Pullman (Jamie Dimon), Matthew "Full Metal Jacket" Modine (John Thain), Tony "Monk" Shalhoub (John Mack), and Cynthia "Sex and the City" Nixon, among others.

It airs on HBO one week from Monday, on May 23rd.

Although Salmon gives the film a luke warm review ("there are so many white guys in suits that unless you already know the story going in it's pretty much impossible to tell who's who" -- which sure sounds like Wall Street to me), Tim Goodman of the Hollywood Reporter says it's a must see for everyone.

Goodman calls "Too Big To Fail" a "mesmerizing" movie, saying it's "full of beautifully minimalist performances from superb actors" (Hurt, in particular, receives rave reviews for his portrayal of "Hammering Hank"). And, overall, Goodman calls the firm an "economics lesson from hell."

Which I believe makes it the only horror movie in more than a decade without an actual vampire in it. Well, without a land-dwelling vampire, at least.

(Hollywood Reporter: TV Review: HBO's 'Too Big to Fail' is an Entertaining 'Economics Lesson From Hell')

(Reuters: Too Big To Fail, the Movie)

("Too Big To Fail" trailer)