The 'Finance Bro' Film Genre: A Quick Explainer!

Biopics have long been a staple of Hollywood movies. They frequently walk a fine line between fact and fiction, using artistic storytelling to illuminate complex personal lives. In recent years, a new kind of sub-genre has emerged under the biopic label – what I like to call the “Finance Bro Genre”.

What exactly is a “Finance Bro"? The Gen-Z term has come to colloquially describe young men who work in high-pressure environments in industries such as investment banking and private equity. They are often characterized by an obsession with wealth and a brash, hyper-masculine attitude. Another modern term often associated with the Finance Bro is “work hard, play hard” – the idealized lifestyle of grueling hours in the office followed by indulgent nights of parties and drinking.

The life of a Finance Bro is one that many seek to achieve, but few realize the mental toll it can take beyond the surface-level attractions. It makes perfect sense, then, that this superficiality has been reflected by several films in glamorized Hollywood. The Wolf of Wall Street, The Big Short, The Social Network, Dumb Money – all of these critically-acclaimed films have similar content but their commonalities go far beyond their portrayals of successful businessmen and lavish parties.

When broken down, the structure of Finance Bro films are remarkably similar. They begin with an introduction of a sort of underdog character, like Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street or Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. As the film progresses, we root for these characters as they achieve their massive financial goals and can't help but be allured as we witness the exciting lifestyle that comes in tandem. The fast-moving nature of the respective industries these films focus on is often reflected by quick cuts and brisk-talking actors.

While these films certainly romanticize the Finance Bro lifestyle (arguably sometimes to a detrimental effect), they rarely shy away from letting their characters off the hook, reflecting the repercussions that many of these real-life people had and shedding light on the potential downsides of aspiring to such a level of status. In all of the aforementioned films, characters who let their greed compromise their morals come into conflict with government officials or otherwise lose much of their assets. In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort was sent to prison for fraud and money laundering, and in Dumb Money, Melvin Capital was forced to shut down as a result of suffering heavy losses due to the GameStop short squeeze. 

Finance Bro genre films have seen immense success in Hollywood, and despite the similar story structures they share, these movies continue to resonate with viewers and will certainly not be seeing a slowdown anytime soon.