Margin Call

Name: Margin Call
Genre: Thriller
Released: October 21, 2011
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 76

2011

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 175 Ratings

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7.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 175 Ratings

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Margin Call

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Movie Details & Credits

Roadside Attractions | Release Date: October 21, 2011 | R

Summary: This tense Wall Street thriller follows the staff of a high-powered brokerage firm in the 24 hours before the stock market crash of 2008. Featuring an all-star cast, Margin Call was one of the most talked about films of the Sundance Film Festival and was also the Opening Night selection of New Directors/New Films. (Roadside Attractions)

Director: J.C. Chandor

Genre(s): Thriller

Rating: R

Runtime: 105 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Stephen Cole

Nov 10, 2011

Chandor's shrewdest bit of business is figuring out how to make an A-list movie with a $3.5-million budget. Solution: buy low, sell high. Hire last decade's A-list – Spacey, Irons and Demi Moore – and give them their best parts in years. Read full review

A.O. Scott

Oct 20, 2011

The accomplishment of this movie is that it allows you to sympathize with them, to acknowledge the reality of their predicament, without letting them off the hook or forgetting the damage they did. Read full review

James Berardinelli

Oct 19, 2011

The movie with which it has the closest relationship may be "Glengarry Glen Ross." The same sense of desperation, the same need to make the sale, permeates Margin Call. Both films are to some degree about the dehumanizing impact of money and both are driven more by characters than plot points. Read full review

Joe Williams

Oct 20, 2011

Margin Call has a spectacular cast, and the 24-hour cycle of events gives the movie the compressed dramatic effect of a fine play. Read full review

Lou Lumenick

Oct 21, 2011

Spacey does his best work since "American Beauty'' as a tired middle-aged corporate warrior whose greatest compassion, in the end, is reserved for an ailing dog he has to put to sleep. Read full review

J.R. Jones

Oct 20, 2011

Chanodr has said that he wanted to portray the 2008 financial meltdown in all its complexity, assigning everyone a fair share of the blame. But the real strength of his debut feature is how persuasively it depicts the fishbowl world of high finance, whose executives seem incapable of seeing past their towering salaries and privileged lives. Read full review

Rex Reed

Oct 19, 2011

As a movie, it's so tightly framed you gasp from claustrophobia. As a film of cryptic boredom, I cannot believe the actors were able to say their lines without cue cards. Read full review

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User Reviews

TheoS

Oct 23, 2011

It's definitely the best Wall street movie I've ever seen. Very well-written: complex characters and smart lines. It makes you want to become rich by every means necessary. It's that good!

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

geewah

Jan 27, 2021

An excellent movie that builds the tension akin to a thriller, more so than a drama.
The small window in which this movie is set, along with a sharp screenplay combines perfectly to gives us one of the best movies of 2011.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JTKelley

Aug 10, 2012

The characters make the film here, as they're well drawn, yet difficult to sympathize with as this reveals the darker side of the decisions that sparked the 2008 financial crisis.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Evanduq

Oct 24, 2011

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. First off, this is not a tense Wall Street thriller. This is a tight drama about an economic titanic without the sappy love story. I am happy to have gotten to see this on VOD. I like a lot about the film. It has a great cast, the acting is professional, and the dialog and plot work like a finely tuned machine. That said, the only thing that is really off putting about this film is the average level cinematography. I don't know if it looked like this in theaters, but the aspect ratio and lighting didn't quite do justice to the epic scale of the story. This film is definitely worth seeing if you don't go into it expecting more of an thriller. There are a lot of speeches, and it comes off more as an exercise in dramatic theater rather than fully cinematic experience. However, it works.… Expand

3 of 3 users found this helpful30

beingryanjude

Sep 2, 2014

J.C. Chandor's debut is both challenging and a gripping look at corporate America during the early days of the recession of 2008. One bold look at corruption.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

supersigy

Nov 5, 2011

This movie would have been a lot more potent had it come out right after the crisis. Three years later we have received so much information on the happenings in 2008 that a film that stays this close to the surface is just not going to cut it.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

RobinsNest

Jan 13, 2012

How can a film be labeled a thriller and suspenseful when I know what happens? And how can any reviewer say that their review contains spoilers? I know what happened. This is just a made up story of what Mr Gecko said "... is good". I knew they all did the wrong thing, thought only ofHow can a film be labeled a thriller and suspenseful when I know what happens? And how can any reviewer say that their review contains spoilers? I know what happened. This is just a made up story of what Mr Gecko said "... is good". I knew they all did the wrong thing, thought only of themselves ,and took the money. Not one person cared. If this fictional account of what may have happened prior to the biggest hit to our economy in my 63 years didn't happen, the film would not have been made. There is no one to root for. Mr Irons says it's a great story. Maybe if it weren't true ( the outcome). Why would anyone praise a fictional film about soulless, inconsiderate, selfish people? And none of these people paid in any way, they made a bunch of money and not only has no one gone to jail, many got hired by our government. They deliberately sold worthless paper (isn't all paper really worthless) and didn't inform their customers. Lying, no? All the people that lost their jobs, their homes, their savings hopefully will not see this and no one involved in it will make much money. The reviewers, the actors, well, the people who don't worry about paying a mortgage, eating, etc. probably find it amusing as once again they are sticking it to the rest of us. I am prepared to suspend belief and even a film with no redeeming value of any kind can still be a well made film with believable characters, except, when the disastrous outcome is true. This film does not enlighten (what is a margin call? does it have anything to do with what happened? with the film?) nor entertain. If you are unlucky enough to see it, hopefully you will come away angry. But to paraphrase some dialogue from the film, "nothing is going to change. there will always be the haves and have nots. F*** 'em."… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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62	#62 Best Movie of 2011
99	#99 Most Discussed Movie of 2011