SnoopyStyle It's early 2008 and Lehman Brothers is falling. CEO Dick Fuld (James Woods) is stand-fast as he rejects an offer from Warren Buffett. He's not willing to sell low as he expects to weather the storm. A few months later, Lehman Brothers is collapsing. Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson (William Hurt), Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, and President of the New York Fed Tim Geithner among others are struggling to gather private interests to bail out the failing investment bank as the contagion spreads.The actors are first rate. I assume the writing is well-researched. It's a relatively clear telling of the events. As a narrative, it does lack the tension of an unknown story and the clarity of one lead character. This is a good companion piece to other docs about the subject.

tiailds There were portions of this movie that felt like this was a graphic novel adaptation of real events. The way some of the characters acted seemed far from realistic."Was it interesting?" For an explanation of the bailout from the inside out, this did well to explain everything. The few times when characters would summarize what has happened to someone were helpful but really out of place. These uninformed people really didn't understand everything that was going on or just how to explain it to the public? 2 out of 3."Was it memorable?" The actors did a great job impersonating their roles. The story seemed a little far fetched though.1.5 out of 3."Was it entertaining?" The movie did build suspense, and I never felt bored. Nothing jumps out either bad or good.1.5 out of 3.Starting with 1 (because of regulation), 1 + 2 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 6 A decent sit, but not one I will go out of my way to see again. William Hurt's performance actually had some emotion. Don't see that too often.

blanche-2 "Let's see," says PR person Michele Davis, played by Cynthia Nixon, "we can't put any more restrictions on the way the banks are going to spend the $125 billion we're giving them, because they might not TAKE it?" Yeah, Michele, if you tell them they can't pay big fat bonuses with it and fund golden parachutes, they won't take it.We all know that the banks were bailed out, and "Too Big To Fail" purports to tell us the real story. It doesn't because in order for it to be a movie, there have to be good guys and bad guys. Since it was all bad guys, it's a little skewered.The good guy of the piece is that hard-working Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, beautifully portrayed by William Hurt. In the story, Paulson nearly has a nervous breakdown trying to save the world economy after investment companies start going bankrupt.It's pointed out that Paulson has no conflict of interest even though he used to run Goldman Sachs because he dumped his stock in the company. That's true. Not mentioned was that for some reason he didn't have to pay any taxes on the sale, something like $50 million.Then we get to the let's bail out AIG because they're in bed with everybody. Yeah. Their big creditor was Goldman Sachs. Paulson cheated the taxpayers out of $75 billion because, in order for Goldman to get all their money, he didn't negotiate the bailout.He's the big hero, the one whose wife (Kathy Baker) tells him he's taking on too much. So you can imagine what the rest of this movie was like when we got down to the real bad guys, the banks.Many people in the film ask, why didn't anyone see this coming? I have some other questions. Why didn't anyone know Bernie Madoff was a crook? Why didn't anyone know banks were lending money to dummy corporations at Enron? Paulson gives us the answer, "They were all making too much money, so nobody asked." The thieves, liars, guys with their heads in the sand, helpers, and pacifiers were played by a wonderful cast: John Hurd, James Wood, Billy Crudupp, Tony Shalhoub, Paul Giamatti, Cynthia Nixon, and Ed Asner. Asner played Warren Buffett, the only one with any money. As Ben Bernanke, Paul Giametti gives another standout performance.Curtis Hanson did a brilliant job of directing -- one felt the tension and suspense every step of the way.On a final note, the banks were given money so they could loan it out. Instead, they loaned out less. Their bonuses reached a peak in 2010, the highest amounts ever. Mattresses are looking better and better.

skyway3131 I just watched the too big to fail and i log on to IMDb for just vote then when i looking at the comments,there's a lot of criticism about Paulson's way of show.I didn't know even name of Paulson until the movie but i didn't describe him as a hero.Movie clearly telling the viewers 'What cause of the crisis?' and 'Paulson didn't do anything about that' (for the remind Paulson says:'because we did a lot of money)that's one part -coming crisis- but managing crisis is another part of the story.Movie tells us a very brief time -its starts a few days earlier of Lehman Brother bankruptcy ends with a congress decision about banks- i mean when system in the crisis.Let's say The movie showed Paulson as a great crisis manager,its very little thing if you can block the crisis before.Also early meeting scene 2 bank of CEO blaming Paulson with not understand the size of problem.Skip comments and Paulson.Movie has very smooth,understandable (even for me)language with a great cast and director of course it could be some minuses but in a 100 minutes its really hard to find a story tell better.Must to watch i think