Too Big to Fail (film)

Too Big to Fail (film)

Too Big to Fail is a 2011 American biographical drama television film directed by Curtis Hanson and written by Peter Gould, based on Andrew Ross Sorkin's 2009 non-fiction book Too Big to Fail. The cast includes William Hurt, Edward Asner, Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Topher Grace, Cynthia Nixon, Bill Pullman, Tony Shalhoub, and James Woods. The film aired on HBO on May 23, 2011.

The film chronicles the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment bank and the subsequent ripple effects on the global economy. As the firm's negotiations with potential buyers fail due to toxic assets and regulatory obstacles, the firm declares bankruptcy, triggering market chaos. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (Hurt) and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke (Giamatti) lead efforts to stabilize the system, including rescuing AIG and lobbying Congress to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

It received 11 nominations at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards; Paul Giamatti's portrayal of Ben Bernanke earned him the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie at the 18th Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Plot

Too Big to Fail (film)

In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis is affecting investment banks holding massive real estate assets. In the midst of an election year, Paulson is wary of funding more ‘bailouts’, after he guaranteed the sale of Bear Stearns at a fraction of its value to JPMorgan Chase. He refuses to step in after shares of investment bank, Lehman Brothers, lose significant value. Lehman CEO Richard Fuld makes a string of bad decisions, pushing Lehman's shares down into single-digits by Friday, September 12.

Timothy Geithner, Chairman of the New York Federal Reserve, wants Paulson to aid a Lehman-merger with Bank of America, but Paulson wants other affected banks to guarantee the deal. He calls an emergency meeting with major bank CEOs at the Federal Reserve. As they hash out terms, Bank of America shockingly announces they are buying Lehman-rival Merrill Lynch instead. Lehman redirects its hopes to UK bank, Barclays, but British regulators "don't want to import [America’s] cancer." With no sale imminent, Lehman declares bankruptcy on September 15.

Immediately, the stock market crashes and investors start pulling funds. Banks stop lending money, freezing the credit market for businesses to borrow for their operations. Faced with paying off large amounts of CDSs against failing mortgages, insurance giant AIG faces a liquidity crisis. French Finance minister, Christine Lagarde, urges Paulson to not let AIG fail too, as they are too interconnected in international business. The government complies by rescuing AIG with an $85-billion loan.

Meanwhile, Ben Bernanke fears a lack of credit in the system would lead to another Great Depression. Neel Kashkari proposes buying out toxic assets to restore confidence in financial institutions, but the $700-billion program will not work fast enough. Dan Jester, Paulson's former colleague and an advisor, suggests injecting capital into the banks, so that they can lend out to borrowers. Government intervention would trigger concerns of nationalisation, so few restrictions are placed on how banks use federal money. Noting the irony, advisor Michele Davis laments that banks can dictate terms to the government while not taking any blame for the financial crisis.

An epilogue reveals that credit conditions did not ease until 2009, when the market freefall was arrested. Meanwhile, banks misappropriated federal loans to facilitate new highs in Wall Street compensation, which rose to $135 billion by 2010.

Reception

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74%, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. On Metacritic, the movie received a weighted average score of 67/100 from 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The A.V. Club gave the film a B rating.

Awards and nominations

Too Big to Fail (film)

<table><thead><tr><th>Year</th><th>Award</th><th>Category</th><th>Nominee(s)</th><th>Result</th><th>Ref.</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>2011</td><td>Artios Awards</td><td>Outstanding Achievement in Casting – Television Movie/Mini Series</td><td>Alexa L. Fogel and Christine Kromer</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Hollywood Post Alliance Awards</td><td>Outstanding Color Grading – Television</td><td>Kevin O'Connor</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Sound – Television</td><td>Michael Kirchberger, Chris Jenkins, and Bob Beemer</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Online Film & Television Association Awards</td><td>Best Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries</td><td>William Hurt</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries</td><td>Paul Giamatti</td><td>Won</td></tr><tr><td>Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries</td><td>Curtis Hanson</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Best Writing of a Motion Picture or Miniseries</td><td>Peter Gould</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Primetime Emmy Awards</td><td>Outstanding Miniseries or Movie</td><td>Curtis Hanson, Paula Weinstein, Jeffrey Levine, Carol Fenelon, and Ezra Swerdlow</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie</td><td>William Hurt</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie</td><td>Paul Giamatti</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>James Woods</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special</td><td>Curtis Hanson</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special</td><td>Peter Gould</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards</td><td>Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special</td><td>Alexa L. Fogel and Christine Kromer</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Cinematography for a Miniseries or Movie</td><td>Kramer Morgenthau</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Main Title Design</td><td>Michael Riley, Bob Swensen, Adam Bluming, and Cory Shaw</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie</td><td>Barbara Tulliver and Plummy Tucker</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie</td><td>Jimmy Sabat, Chris Jenkins, and Bob Beemer</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Satellite Awards</td><td>Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Best Actor in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television</td><td>William Hurt</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television</td><td>James Woods</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Television Critics Association Awards</td><td>Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>2012</td><td>Art Directors Guild Awards</td><td>Excellence in Production Design Award – Television Movie or Mini-Series</td><td>Bob Shaw, Miguel López-Castillo, Katya Blumenberg, Larry M. Gruber, Holly Watson, Peter Hackman, and Carol Silverman</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Cinema Audio Society Awards</td><td>Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Movies and Mini-Series</td><td>James Sabat, Chris Jenkins, Bob Beemer, and Chris Fogel</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Golden Globe Awards</td><td>Best Miniseries or Television Film</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film</td><td>William Hurt</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film</td><td>Paul Giamatti</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Guild of Music Supervisors Awards</td><td>Best Music Supervision for Television Long Form and Movie</td><td>Evyen Klean</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Producers Guild of America Awards</td><td>David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television</td><td>Carol Fenelon, Jeffrey Levine, and Paula Weinstein</td><td>Nominated</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Screen Actors Guild Awards</td><td>Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries</td><td>Paul Giamatti</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>James Woods</td><td>Nominated</td></tr><tr><td>Writers Guild of America Awards</td><td>Long Form – Adapted</td><td>Peter Gould; Based on the book by Andrew Ross Sorkin</td><td>Won</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>