As the documentary, “Everyone is Lying to You for Money” repeatedly reminds us, you would possibly know Ben McKenzie from his function as Ryan Atwood on the Aughts sequence, “The O.C.” Despite shifting on to reveals like “Gotham” and “Southland,” McKenzie will ceaselessly be acknowledged as Ryan. Never thoughts that he’s been a cryptocurrency skeptic for fairly a while now, testifying earlier than Congress and co-writing a guide, “Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud,” about a number of burst crypto bubbles.
With this entertaining, humorous, and informative film, McKenzie can add documentary filmmaker to his CV. I doubt it can persuade anybody who has purchased into the legends of cryptocurrency to change their outlook, however skeptics will certainly get a kick out of this three yr journey, which began through the pandemic in 2020.
“The story of money is one of the oldest and most powerful stories ever told,” McKenzie tells us in his opening narration, “one that’s still being written today.” He makes use of the idea of a narrative as his thesis, or relatively, his rationalization for what cryptocurrency is. To him, it’s a story advised by scammers who persuade their influencer minions to unfold the gospel. The preliminary carrot dangled in entrance of a possible investor is the correct notion that our banking and monetary methods are flawed. The element that will get ignored is that, flawed or not, these methods nonetheless work higher than a code-based funding plan.
McKenzie reveals that he was launched to bitcoin by his school buddy, Dave. Dave was beforehand accountable for giving him “the worst financial advice” he ever obtained: McKenzie put his cash in a bunch of inventory from a medical firm that rapidly went stomach up. Based on Dave’s historical past with investing, the suggestion of bitcoin was already suspect. A self-described “econ dork” with a level in economics, McKenzie began researching whereas the world was nonetheless shut down.
His curiosity led to taking pictures this documentary. “Do you know what we’re doing?” he asks considered one of his youngsters on digital camera. “You’re trying to make fun of people who use cryptocurrency,” the child replies. And actually, it’s going to appear like that to some viewers. But McKenzie has not solely finished the legwork, he’s additionally backed by a few of the cryptocurrency crises that occurred as he was taking pictures this film.
While driving his fellow actor spouse, Morena Baccarin (“Deadpool”), loopy along with his newfound obsession, McKenzie had time to go to her on set and interview her costar, Gerard Butler about his bitcoin investing. He additionally attended a 2022 bitcoin convention in Miami, the place he found a believer in Alex Gladstein, the chief technique officer of the Human Rights Foundation.
Once El Salvador grew to become the primary nation to add bitcoin to its economic system, McKenzie travelled there and visited the primary “resident” of the promised “Bitcoin City,” a deliberate location the El Salvadorian president mentioned can be a shining beacon on a hill, or relatively, on a volcano. To maintain the point of view truthful, the director additionally interviews a fisherman who’s being compelled off the land his household has lived at for generations to make means for Bitcoin City.
You’ll be stunned what number of crypto bigwigs are on this documentary. Before he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for quite a few offenses, the previous head of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, sat down for an ungainly on-camera interview; McKenzie attends the chat whereas wielding a cup that claims “fraud investigator.” Celsius Network’s president, Alex Mashinsky, can be grilled about that failed New Jersey cryptocurrency firm, which he based mere strolling distance from the place I’m submitting this evaluate.
Even Boston’s own Matt Damon will get kicked round a bit for his notorious and embarrassing “fortune favors the brave” crypto business.
Lest I neglect, former cryptocurrency skeptic (and present co-star of “Marty Supreme”) Kevin O’Leary reveals up a number of instances, each earlier than and after he grew to become a paid spokesperson for investing in crypto.
It looks as if studying your lesson about crypto is rattling close to unattainable — when requested by McKenzie, a number of common individuals who misplaced large bucks when Celsius Network went underneath nonetheless say they’ll spend money on bitcoin. Numerous influencers additionally get their flip to assault McKenzie in a montage, even after all of the crypto-based arrests and failures.
McKenzie is a fascinating host and a plausible skeptic. By the tip of the movie, he jokes with Baccarin that he’d hoped for a happier ending. Coming from a coding background, I rejected your entire notion of cryptocurrency again once I was in Silicon Valley, so I’m the best viewers for this film. Whether you agree or not with McKenzie’s thesis, you nonetheless might stroll away realizing that our grandparents had the best concept once they stuffed their life financial savings into their Sealy Posturepedic.
★★★
EVERYBODY IS LYING TO YOU FOR MONEY
Directed by Ben McKenzie. At Coolidge Corner. 90 min. Unrated.
Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe’s movie critic.
