Close the followers of the GameStop bull dealer Roaring Kitty (a.k.a. Keith Gill) and the 2021 meme stock/short compression saga know last year's “Letter Money” from the beginning: he gave one final sign on his popular YouTube live stream and will stop posting online, which may be, being in the spotlight for a few very crazy months.
But the end is not far away. After three years of inactivity, Roaring Kitty returned last month and began posting memes on Twitter, followed by a Reddit post about GameStop's ( GME ) stock position. On Friday he It appeared again on YouTube For the first time since that 2021 sign, he's confirmed he's still alive—and the actor who played him in the movie wasn't.
“I'm definitely not Paul Dano,” he said Friday. “I still haven't seen that movie. I've seen some clips.
Roaring Kitty's story is clearly not over. GME prices fell on Friday following the pullback, with the trader still holding a large position in both stocks and options. And his YouTube comeback helped allay concerns that someone had stolen or taken over his account, or that his tweets and posts were a hoax.
But like Roaring Kitty, if you haven't seen the star-studded biopic based on the 2020-2021 development and widespread GameStop meme stock phenomenon, you'll be hard pressed to see “Letter Money” now that we're watching the sequel unfold. In real time?
for sure. I watched the film for the first time this week on Netflix, just hours before Roaring Kitty's YouTube comeback, and it still paints an interesting and entertaining picture of his character and business mentality, and can serve as a useful starting point to catch people off guard. The real world saga continues.
based on 2021 “The Antisocial Network” by Ben MezrichThe former author of the book that inspired the movie “The Social Network,” “Dub Money” not only tells the story of Roaring Kitty and his big bet on GameStop, but also the short squeeze on Wall Street firms and the many retailers that have gathered around the meme stock.
He paints a benign and sympathetic picture of Gill's financial analyst, who developed this outlandish thesis about the undervalued video game retailer. He takes it to the masses with live-streaming phrases and cat images. Before long, Gill's unexpected revolution is threatening the giants of Wall Street.
Dano is a respected actor, and he captures many of Gill's secrets that we've seen in his hours-long live stream, even if the “Fablemans” actor can't match the manic energy of the real deal. Given Gill's own wild performance on Friday, I can't blame Dano for doing a little to create that magnetic, live-stream mystery.
Pete Davidson and Paul Dano (left) in “Bear Money.” Image: Sony Pictures
He is joined by a large ensemble that includes Seth Rogen, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, Shailene Woodley and Pete Davidson.
Rogen and Offerman portray popular hedge fund managers Gabe Plotkin and Ken Griffin, respectively—and while not typically the comedic roles we know those actors for, the film portrays them as out-of-touch elites with their spending and reckless recklessness. Retailers. (The real life Griffin He was not very happy.)
Nick Offerman and Seth Rogen (from left) in “Letter Money.” Image: Sony Pictures
Even when director Craig Gillespie tries to cram too much into 100 minutes, “Letter Money” maintains a brisk pace. There are a lot of threads being pulled here, and the stories of retail investors sometimes feel overwrought—not to mention overly dramatic. As the meme stock trend explodes, “Dumb Money” has to rush to fit in with the rest of the big headlines without saying goodbye.
Even so, “Letter Money” is a mild and accessible take on the tumultuous saga. It's a cohesive retelling that balances Roaring Kitty's big personality with a human edge, all while keeping things simple and entertaining enough for non-financial viewers.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
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