Neither of the whistleblowers, Eric and Peter, has enough screentime to carry the film as a hero. John Tuld is never allowed to be as fearsome as the real-life Dick Fuld, a man known as "the Gorilla of Wall Street". The ensemble cast, though fantastically talented, are used to modest effect. Most movies about business don't work, and the few that do pull it off by having whip-smart dialogue and characters you care about. Margin Call star Kevin Spacey sparkles as a veteran trading-floor boss. "Or as you would to a golden retriever." Unfortunately, it turns out that even faced with a golden retriever Peter would yammer on about things like trading security, product layering and market capitalisation. "Speak as you might to a small child," Tuld tells Peter. Finally they summon the big boss, John Tuld (Jeremy Irons), whose name hints that he may be based on real-life former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld. So impossible is it to set out what's going on without immediately boring and confusing the audience that both Paul Bettany and Kevin Spacey have to ask Peter to explain it "in English". Margin Call tries to make clear the reason for the problems at Unnamed Investment Bank, but whenever someone starts getting into the details it sounds like: "Well, sir, we're now leveraged up to our historical volatility index limits, and if you cross the streams in the flux capacitor Skynet will become self-aware at 2.14am Eastern Time." At least, that's what I wrote in my notes. Margin Call film still Photograph: Walter Thomson
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