Glitzy Gunk

I saw Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps almost ten days ago and the fact that I haven't written anything about it is clear enough evidence that it didn't do anything for me whatsoever.

It's a humdrum financial tale about a young guy (Shia LaBeouf) who gets his feathers ruffled during the big financial meltdown and his face-to-face with the villainous Josh Brolin all the while attempting to reconnect his fiancee (Carey Mulligan) with her high-stakes shark of a father, the iconic Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas).

But alas, this is a blunt, lifeless drudge - a messy resuscitation and a logical yet unprogressive sequel to the 1987 original, which is far more snappy and smooth and easier to invest in (no pun intended).

The main problem I have with it is what is done with Douglas' Gordon Gekko, here pushed to the margins and then given a "will he or won't he" moment at the end where he must choose between his sharky, game-playing persona and his softer side, his daughter and yaddity, yaddity, who cares?

Like Stone's W, which is ultimately a better film for Brolin's performance and its refusal to resort to easy political skewering, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps feels lackadaisical and slummy, its would-be timeliness lacking teeth and purpose. [C]