Too Big To Fail

Too Big to Fail," the HBO film based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's book that premiers tonight, has its moments. For a story that's already been hashed out in countless books, magazines, and documentaries, HBO's rendition of the Wall Street meltdown still manages to feel fresh, entertaining, and even educational. But does it get to the point? The docu-drama offers a clear and concise play-by-play of the complex events that brought down Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and AIG. And that's a great public service, since those are not easy events to grasp or remember. As Michael Kinsley put it in the New York Times,

"I've never come closer than the two minutes after watching "Too Big to Fail" to understanding what a "credit default swap” is." The feeling of "I get it!" is reason enough to give the movie a pass. But beyond nailing down the crisis logistics, what the viewer ultimately wants is some insight on who's to blame. And that's something "Too Big to Fail" does its best to avoid. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson (played by William Hurt) is mild-mannered, sharp-witted, and fair. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke (played by Paul Giamatti) is a soft-spoken backseat sage. And even Goldman

Sachs' CEO Lloyd Blankfein (played by Evan Handler) is deemed a "superstar" who appears cooperative and cool-headed at every turn. Aside from a slightly irritable John Thain from Merrill Lynch (played by Matthew Modine) and an understandably cranky Dick Fuld (played by James Woods), there aren't any villains in the mix. The bankers are at worst self-satisfied, while the government falls somewhere between pitifully overwhelmed and plainly naive. The result is a story without much added grit, which leaves.

Too Big To Fail