(Morning Brew) Good morning. Remember meme stock mania of 2021 when words like “tendies,” “Roaring Kitty,” and “GameStop shares rise 144% in a day” all made sense? Morning Brew invites you to relive it with us by watching Dumb Money, the upcoming movie starring Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, America Ferrera, Seth Rogen, and more, about how a group of Reddit traders turned Wall Street upside down. Join Morning Brew Daily co-hosts Neal Freyman and Toby Howell on the evening of Monday, Sept. 11, for an advanced screening of the movie (that means you can watch it before anyone else does) followed by a Q&A with the film’s executive producers/screenwriters, Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. If you’re interested in meeting us IRL, will be in NYC, and want to talk meme stocks, check out more info about the movie and claim your free tickets here.
I am going! “ Last time I went to the movies I was thrown out for bringing my own food. My argument was that the concession stand prices are outrageous. Besides, I haven't had a Bar-B-Que in a long time.” Steven Wright
(Axios) 3. The biggest meme-stock movie of the year Ken Griffin and Gabe Plotkin, as played by Nick Offerman and Seth Rogen, in "Dumb Money." Photo: Lacey Terrell / Sony Pictures "Dumb Money" is an enjoyable and funny David-versus-Goliath film set in the midst of a global pandemic. Why it matters: The movie has the misfortune of being released in the middle of an actors strike, thereby depriving it of a publicity tour from the likes of Seth Rogen, America Ferrera, and Pete Davidson. You should still go see it. The big picture: The movie unabashedly takes the side of the little guy and Wall Street Bets. It paints hedge fund managers like Gabe Plotkin and Steve Cohen not only as the meme-stock losers whose money created the gains for the Extremely Online masses, but also as individuals whose outsize wealth came from immiserating those regular folk in the first place. Wall Street Bets in particular, the Reddit message board, is portrayed as a revolutionary force, led in large part by Keith "Roaring Kitty" Gill. "The movement he started is only the beginning," concludes the film. Between the lines: Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev emerges as arguably the movie's biggest villain; Gill its biggest hero. Griffin is a relatively minor character, albeit clearly on the side of the bad guys. The bottom line: Real finance is not the simple morality tale that the film makes it out to be. But don't let that prevent you from enjoying the movie.