In August 2008, Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld seeks investors for his firm, which is in dire straits after attaining ill advised housing holdings. Not wanting to take part in another federal bailout, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson rallies the heads of the other Wall Street institutions to work together and find a solution, which as we all know, was a massive federal bailout and a crippled economy that remains in the same state today. Director Curtis Hanson's "Too Big to Fail" is an inert drama depicting the global economic crisis that takes the approach of casting a slew of familiar faces (Paul Giamatti, James Woods, Ed Asner, Billy Crudup, etc.) in the hopes it counteracts a dull, plodding screenplay. There are a few fleeting moments here, and William Hurt is excellent as the beset, ready to boil over Treasury head. This covers similar territory as "Margin Call", and is made in a similar vein, but fails to open up its material as that superior picture did and is comfortable with resting the burden of its lackluster material on its A-level cast.
