Inside Job parents guide

Inside Job Parent Guide

Overall A-

Winner of the 2011 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Inside Job examines the global financial crisis of 2008 by interviewing financial insiders, politicians, journalists, and academics.

Release date October 1, 2010

Violence B
Sexual Content C+
Profanity D+
Substance Use C+

Why is Inside Job rated PG-13? The MPAA rated Inside Job PG-13 for some drug and sex-related material.

Run Time: 120 minutes

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Parent Movie Review

Calling it a burst bubble seems so benign. For those who lost their jobs, homes and life savings in the 2008 financial crisis, it was more like a nuclear meltdown with a huge mushroom cloud. While the floor fell out from beneath the feet of many average people, the guys at the top of the food chain (those who jiggered the numbers and let bad credit lead to the collapse) seem to have escaped unscathed, even receiving huge bonuses for what looks to be bad behavior.

It’s these top dogs and their reckless actions that come under scrutiny from filmmaker Charles Ferguson in his Oscar-winning documentary Inside Job. Interviewing executives (at least those who agreed to meet with him), financial analysts, professors, lawyers and government officials, Ferguson attempts to trace the decisions that led to the monetary implosion.

In hindsight, it seems obvious the crisis was coming. (Ferguson finds plenty of people who warned of impending trouble.) But in the heady days leading up to bank and business failures, those who had responsibility for the financial health of the country and in large part the world, appear to have been intent on squeezing millions and even billions out of investors by encouraging bad loans and at times betting on the failure of those loans. Unfortunately, Ferguson says, government agencies put in place to monitor these businesses also bought into the gamble, refusing to force the investment companies to check themselves after deregulation took place.

The filmmakers have edited this piece well to further their point, highlighting the evasive answers and uncomfortable body language these officials display when coming under the gun of senatorial inquiries and the camera. Narrated by Academy Award winner Matt Damon, the film also details the lavish lifestyles, prostitution use and illegal drug habits of some of those high rollers. While brief strong language, the discussion of executives’ unethical and immoral business practices and the depiction of illegal drug use may dissuade some parents from showing this production to their older teens, the messages about broken trusts, unchecked greed and the difficulty of investing wisely are strong.

Understandably documentarians tell their story they way they see it and Ferguson argues his opinion well. However if audience members hope to see justice done and things set right for the future, they’ll be disappointed. While Ferguson suggests that Obama promised reform, he also proposes that the new government has done little to ensure a similar financial disaster doesn’t happen again. Or that those who rake in millions and billions of dollars, often at taxpayers’ expense, will ever have to pay their fair share into government coffers.

As one interviewee stated, “Nothing comes without consequence.” Unfortunately those involved in the financial tinkering are not the ones who appear to be paying the price.

Directed by Charles Ferguson. Starring Matt Damon. Running time: 120 minutes. Theatrical release October 1, 2010. Updated

Inside Job
Rating & Content Info

Why is Inside Job rated PG-13? Inside Job is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for some drug and sex-related material.

Violence: White-collar crime is the subject of the film. Although some men are shown in handcuffs, there appears to be very few consequences for those who purportedly caused the crisis. Portrayals of soldiers engaged in war, bomb testing and street riots are depicted.

Sexual Content: A woman discusses (without specific names) those who used her high-end prostitution business on a regular basis and expensed it to their companies. Comments are made about men who went to strip bars, hired prostitutes or paid for lap dances for their business associates. Other brief suggestive comments are made about unfaithful spouses. Women in scanty or tight clothing are shown. Photographs of topless women (no explicit nudity is seen) are displayed on a computer screen.

Language: The script includes an obscene hand gesture, sexual references and some scatological slang, along with profanities and a partial sexual expletive drawn on a wall.

Alcohol / Drug Use: During comments about rampant cocaine use, a white powder is poured onto a surface and then purportedly snorted through a rolled up dollar bill. Men talk about money laundered for international drug traders. A man takes a sip of alcohol before being interviewed. Several men are shown smoking.

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Inside Job Parents' Guide

What roles do risk and caution play in investing? What impact did one-upmanship have among these company executives? Is there any way to justify their apparent greed?

Should a documentarian try and show both sides of a story in his or her film? Does this director present a balanced argument? Is there a balanced argument to present? Why would some people refuse to be interviewed?

Do you believe there is any way to bring those who are responsible for the crisis to justice? How would that happen? Who would have to be involved? Is there anything investors can do to ensure their ventures are relatively sound?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Inside Job movie is March 8, 2011. Here are some details…

Inside Job releases to DVD and Blu-ray on March 8, 2011, with the following bonus materials:

- Deleted Scenes featuring Eliot Spitzer, Lee Hsien Loong, Satyajit Das and other financial insiders.

- Commentary with director Charles Ferguson and producer Audrey Marrs

- Featurette: The Making of Inside Job

Inside Job on Blu-ray also includes these extras:

- More than 60 minutes of additional deleted scenes.

Related home video titles:

Other documentaries also honored with Academy Award nominations and wins include: Food Inc., Encounters at the End of the World, Sicko, An Inconvenient Truth and March of the Penguins.