| The path to wealth is junk. If you've got an MBA you might be riveted by Akhtar's illustration of this apparent axiom of wealth acquisition from the 1980s. If you don't, you may well experience one or more of the following: boredom, confusion, dismay, disgust. In either case, there's nothing new here and while the production is well acted and slickly presented it stops well short of searing because it's basically impenetrable. Unlike the recent film THE BIG SHORT, Akhtar hasn't been able to explicate for the uninitiated the complexities of financial investing and trading. What is clear--and what you probably knew already--is that the wanton pursuit of preposterous wealth in itself, and especially at the expense of others, is an empty, sad, and cruel endeavor that is nonetheless compelling to a lot of people. A more interesting play might have tried to explore the reasons for this. JUNK is not that play. |
