I love movies about money. We all deal with money, have made money mistakes, and often wish we had more of it. Here are twenty-four of my favorite movies about money, greed, or business. There are listed in alphabetical order.
I will score my personal gold, silver, and bronze at the end.
There will be some movies strangely due to some questionable content.
MOVIES ABOUT MONEY B—H
The Big Short
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 89
Starring: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Maris Tomei, Brad Pitt, Hamish Linklater, and Jeremy Strong (my favorite character).
Tagline: This is a true story. Meet the men who saw the end. Shocking, powerful, unbelievable, and it’s true.
My favorite line: “Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I’ll have my wife’s brother arrested.”
What you might learn: Going against the grain is sometimes necessary.
The Big Short reflects how the actions of a handful of people who predicted the housing crisis. The exposes the corruption of the mortgage industry and bet against it. And won.
Blue Jasmine
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 91%
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Louis CK, Andrew Dice Clay, Bobby Cannavale, and Alec Baldwin
Tagline: It’s Woody Allen so there is no tagline.
My Favorite Line: “Anxiety, nightmares, and a nervous breakdown, there’s only so many traumas a person can withstand until they take to the streets and start screaming.”
What It’s About: Discontentment and how discontentment is so unattractive. A wealthy socialite, played by Cate Blanchett, falls into poverty and deals with an anxiety disorder.
What you might learn: Never base your personal worth on the amount of money in your bank account.
The Blues Brothers
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 73%
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Carrie Fisher, James Brown, Ray Charles, John Candy, and Steven Williams
Tagline: We’re on a mission from God.
My Favorite Line: “They’re not gonna catch us. We’re on a mission from God.”
What It’s About: Jake and Elwood put the band back together in an effort to save an orphanage. They only need to raise $5,000. Let the hijinks begin!
What you might learn. Radical generosity comes in all shapes and sizes.
The Devil Wears Prada
I actually never saw this movie and never will. Michael Scott did though.
Fargo
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 94%
Starring: Frances McDormand, Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, and Peter Stormare
Tagline: Small town. Big crime.
My Favorite Line: “There’s more to life than a little money, you know…And here ya’ re, and it’s a beautiful day.”
What It’s About: A son-in-law uses his wife in an elaborate kidnapping scheme to get a huge payout. What could go wrong?
What you might learn. Greed can be deadly.
Ford vs. Ferrari
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 92%
Starring: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, John Bernthal, Josh Lucas, and Caitriona Balfe
Tagline: They took the American dream for a ride.
My Favorite Line: “He runs Porshe, Ken. It’s a little German car company, maybe you’ve heard of it.
What It’s About: A great movie about friendship and family.
What you might learn: All businesses eventually are hamstrung by bureaucracy, pride, and arrogance.
Hell Or High Water
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 97%
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Ben Foster, and Chris Pine.
Tagline: Justice isn’t a crime.
My Favorite Line: “I’ve been poor my whole life, like a disease passing from generation to generation. But not my boys, not anymore.”
What It’s About: Two brothers go on a bank-robbing spree to buy back their childhood home from the bank that repossessed it.
What you might learn: Poverty is a disease.
This movie has one of the best endings of all time.
How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 42%, Audience score of 77%
Starring: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Adam Goldberg, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Parisse, and Thomas Lennon.
Tagline: One of them is lying. So is the other.
My Favorite Line: “Princess Sophia! You wanna talk about shooting a man’s horse!”
What It’s About: Two bets. One has to dump a guy in ten days. The other has to get a woman to fall in love with him in ten days.
What you might learn: Probably nothing but you will laugh a few times.
It’s a very good rom-com. The supporting cast of Goldberg, Hahn, Parisse, and Lennon are fabulous!
MOVIES ABOUT MONEY J—N
John Q
If your movie list does not include at least one movie from Denzel…well….it’s not much of a list is it?
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 23% and an audience score of 78%. Critics? Am I right?
Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, Kimberly Elise, James Woods, and Anna Heche
Tagline: Give a father no options and you leave him no choice.
My Favorite Line: “I am not going to bury my son. My son is going to bury me.”
What It’s About: A boy is deathly ill and needs a heart transplant and a crap ton of money. The father will do anything to ensure his son lives.
What you might learn: Our healthcare system could use a spritzer.
Knives Out
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 97%
Starring: Daniel Craig, Jame Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, and Ana de Armas
Tagline: Everyone has a motive. No one has a clue.
My Favorite Line: “The family is truly desperate. And when people get desperate, the knives come out.”
What It’s About: The family patriarch has allowed all of his family to mooch off of him forever. Suddenly, he commits suicide. Or does he?
What you might learn: Depending on a rich and successful family member to pay your way is unattractive.
Logan Lucky
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 92%
Starring: Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Channing Tatum, Katie Holmes, and Seth MacFarlane.
Tagline: 1 incredible plan. They’re on track for the biggest steal of their lives.
My Favorite Line: “Did you just say cauli-flower to me?”
What It’s About: Two down on their luck brothers plan to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s kind of like a redneck Ocean’s Eleven — but better!
What you might learn: “Luck” can change.
Margin Call
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 87%
Starring: Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, and Penn Badgley.
Tagline: Be first. Be smarter. Or cheat.
My Favorite Line: “Maybe you could tell me what is going on. And please, speak as you might to a young child. Or a golden retriever. It wasn’t brains that brought me here; I assure you that.”
What It’s About: The movie is based on the liquidity crisis in 2008. The fictional company is believed to have been Lehman Brothers. They’ve just discovered the world will never be the same. How will they respond?
What you might Learn: Our lives of abundance are often built on a shaky credit system.
Million Dollar Baby
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 90%
Starring: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Mackie, and Michael Pena.
Tagline: Beyond their journey, there is love.
My Favorite Line: “I’ve seen you at Mass almost every day for 23 years. The only person who comes to church that much is the kind who can’t forgive himself for something.”
What It’s About: A young southern girl show up at a boxing gym in LA to be trained. She’s a natural and gets a Million Dollar Shot at the title.
What you might Learn: Some families are infected with the disease of poverty and it can’t be cured.
Moneyball
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 94%
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt, and Philip Seymour Hoffman
Tagline: What are you really worth?
My Favorite Line: “When your enemy’s making mistakes don’t interrupt them”
What It’s About: The use of statistical models to evaluate baseball players. It might sound like a snoozer but it’s AWESOME!
What You Might Learn: Identifying the actual value of something is often in direct opposition to what we believe is common sense.
No Country For Old Men
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 93%
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin
Tagline: One opportunity can change your life. One mistake can destroy it.
My Favorite Line: “But I think once you quit hearing “sir” and “ma’am,” the rest is soon to follow.”
What It’s About: Greed. Stealing money from a justice-bound sociopath is a terrible idea.
What You Might Learn: Don’t take money that doesn’t belong to you.
MOVIES ABOUT MONEY O—W
O Brother Where Art Thou
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 78%
Starring: George Clooney, John Goodman, Tim Blake Nelson, John Turturro, Holly Hunter,
Tagline: They have a plan, but not a clue.
My Favorite Line: “Well, ain’t it a small world, spiritually speaking. Pete and Delmar just been baptized and saved. I guess I’m the only one that remains unaffiliated.”
What It’s About: Three knuckleheads escape from a chain gang in search of a hidden treasure.
What You Might Learn: Sometimes the journey is better than the destination.
Office Space
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 80%
Starring: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Stephen Root, Diedrich Bader, Gary Cole, and John C. McGinley.
Tagline: Work Sucks.
My Favorite Line: “Yeah. If you could just go ahead and make sure you do that from now on, that will be great.”
What It’s About: Work is portrayed as a soul-sucking force.
What You Might Learn: Work does in fact often suck.
This movie has generated more memes than any other!
The Pursuit of Happyness
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 67%
Starring: Will Smith, Brian Howe, Dan Castellaneta, and Kurt Fuller
Tagline: You gotta protect it.
My Favorite Line: “You got a dream… You gotta protect it. People can’t do somethin’ themselves, they wanna tell you you can’t do it. If you want somethin’, go get it. Period.”
What It’s About: Overcoming. This is one of the best portrayals of the importance of grit.
What You Might Learn: Givin up is for cowards.
The Shawshank Redemption
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 91%
Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, and Bob Gunton
Tagline: Hope can set you free.
My Favorite Line: “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really: Get busy living, or get busy dying.”
What It’s About: An innocent man is sent to jail. The warden uses him to launder money.
What You Might Learn: Hope is not dangerous.
This is one of only a few times where the movie is better than the book.
Slumdog Millionaire
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 91%
Starring: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, and Madhur Mittal
Tagline: Love and money… You have mixed them both.
My Favorite Line: “My enemy’s enemy is a friend.”
What It’s About: A young man goes on a game show. His brutal life experiences help him navigate challenging questions.
What You Might Learn: Every situation we encounter can have a positive impact.
Sunshine Cleaning
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 74%
Starring: Amy Adams, Emily Blunt, Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, and Clifton Collins Jr
Tagline: Life’s a messy business.
My Favorite Line: “Yeah. I do. Um, we come into people’s lives when they have experienced something profound; and sad. And they’ve lost somebody, you know? And um, the circumstances, they’re always different. But that’s the same. And we help. In some small way we, um, we help.”
What It’s About: Hard work and taking risks. Dad always has a hair-brained scheme to get rich. The daughters, one a single mom, stumble upon a crime scene cleaning business.
What You Might Learn: Risk is real.
Sunshine Cleaning is a great movie about family and sisters in particular. It’s one of my wife’s favorite movies of all time.
Thank You For Not Smoking
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 86%
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, JK Simmons, and William H. Macy
Tagline: Don’t hide the truth. Just filter it.
My Favorite Line: “That’s the beauty of argument: if you argue correctly, you’re never wrong.”
What It’s About: Spinning lies. The main character represents the tobacco industry and attempts to not lose face with his kid.
What You Might Learn: How we say things is powerful.
Wall Street
Rotten Tomatoes Score — 79%
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Martin Sheen, and Tamara Tunie
Tagline: Every dream has a price.
My Favorite Line: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.”
What It’s About: A movie about the disgusting underbelly of Wall Street.
What You Might Learn: Greed has a price.
Movies About Money Winners
The bronze goes to Logan Lucky.
The silver goes to Margin Call.
The gold goes to Fargo.
All of these movies about money are worth watching. You will learn something from each as well. Sometimes the message will be positive but not every time.
Enjoy!
I dare you to profit!