Making a complex subject entertaining

THE Big Short takes a seriously complex real-world subject and turns it into an Economics 101 session by using humour and other novel means to depict in layman's terms how a few well-placed number crunchers, realising that the US housing market was supported by bad loans, predicted an inevitable meltdown and made a fortune by betting against the market.

Making light of a global financial crisis in which thousands of people lost their homes, jobs and life savings is a risky business but director Adam McKay, who also wrot…