A film that tells the real-life story of the Brockton-native behind the GameStop stock craze, “Dumb Money,” from director Craig Gillespie, hit theaters on Sept. 22 to mostly positive reviews.
In 2021, Brockton’s Keith Gill (played by Paul Dano) encouraged family, friends, and his online followers on Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube to invest in stock from GameStop, causing the stock to unexpectedly appreciate, making Gill and those who followed his lead a lot of money.
On the other end, billionaire hedge fund tycoons lost out on millions, including Citadel founder Ken Griffin (played by Nick Offerman) and Melvin Capital Management founder Gabe Plotkin (played by Seth Rogan).
The film capitalizes on this real-life conflict, pitting the amateur investor underdogs and the well-established financial executives against each other using real-life news footage, memes, and fictional re-enactments from an all-star cast.
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The film has garnered mostly positive reviews, receiving a 7.1/10 on IMDb and an 85% ‘tomatometer’ and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“This movie is brilliantly seamed together with a sprawling cast, but in my mind, they weave it well to create a very compelling story,” wrote movie-critic Michael Cook. “You find yourself rooting for the average Joes to stick it to the rich folks.”
While most critics say “Dumb Money” is worth the watch, there’s no question the true story behind the movie’s success is just as entertaining as the film itself. Here’s what to know.
Who is Keith Gill?
In 2019, Keith Gill, a little-known financial analyst for MassMutual, amateur investor, and Brockton-native, began posting to an online Reddit forum called ‘WallStreetBets’ under the username ‘DeepF-ingValue’. The forum, which is still active today, self-described their community as “making money and being amused while doing it.”
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Gill also started posting videos on his YouTube channel under the username ‘Roaring Kitty’ in July of 2020. As of 2023, he’s received almost 10 million channel views.
“The Roaring Kitty channel revolves around educational live streams where I share my daily routine of tracking stocks and performing investment research,” Gill wrote on his about page. “I share my approach to investing in an effort to set you on the right path to building out your own investment process.”
He was also active on Twitter under the username ‘TheRoaringKitty’. Gill posted live streams on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 7 to 10 p.m. The pages haven’t been used since 2021.
In a written testimony presented to the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, Gill said his social media channels were meant to serve as financial education classes that advisors could present to prospective clients.
What happened to GameStop stock?
Thinking GameStop was nothing more than a fading mall establishment, billionaire hedge fund owners began short-selling borrowed stock shares to make a profit — banking on the idea that the stock’s price would continue to decrease so that shares could be bought back at a lower price.
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But as Gill began to post about the benefits of buying GameStop stock on social media, his online followers listened, using the app Robinhood to buy and trade stocks, ultimately and unexpectedly increasing the stock’s price from $20 per share to $193 per share at the end of January 2021.
The hedge fund owners, who were banking on the stock devaluating, lost out big time while Gill — who originally invested $53,000 in GameStop stocks — came away with almost $46 million.
How did the GameStop stock craze end?
In February of 2021, Gill was named in a lawsuit by investor Christian Iovin for $5 million, claiming Gill had manipulated stock prices unfairly.
Lawsuit: Brockton native Keith Gill among those sued for $5M for role in GameStop stock frenzy
“He acted as a kind of Robin Hood and characterized securities professionals as villains to motivate amateur traders,” the lawsuit says.
“Gill targeted hedge funds that shorted GameStop as evil, powerful boys and advocated for revenge by causing a market frenzy,” the plaintiff alleges.
However, Gill claimed he never sold securities or was a financial advisor.
The lawsuit also named Gill’s former employer, MassMutual. “By failing to adhere to its own supervision obligation, MassMutual willfully participated in Gill’s manipulative activity and violations… (and) are liable for Gill’s unlawful and manipulative activity,” the lawsuit states.
Around that same time, Gill testified before Congress and the House of Committee on Financial Services about his role in the GameStop stock, along with two hedge fund leaders, and the people behind Robinhood and Redditt.
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In the end, MassMutual paid out $4 million, but Gill was never personally held responsible for his alleged market manipulation.
Where is Keith Gill from?
Gill was raised in Brockton by parents Elaine, a registered nurse, and Steven, a truck driver, and has a younger brother named Kevin (played by Pete Davidson), and a younger sister.
“I was one of three kids, and the first in my family to earn a four-year college degree when I graduated from Stonehill College in 2009, amid the Great Recession and without a long-term job. My first post-college job was in operations at W.B. Mason, an office supplies company headquartered in my hometown of Brockton,” Gill said during the congressional hearing in 2021.
At Brockton High School, Gill was a cross-country and track star, placing second in an all-state meet, even while dealing with injuries. “That was that Brockton tough,” former assistant coach Joe LeMar told the Enterprise in 2021. He had a fierce heart and dogged determination even then, remembers LeMar.
After graduating, Gill attended Stonehill College in North Easton where he continued to pursue cross-country and indoor and outdoor track and field. He was the college’s only male runner to get All-American honors for all three sports, and he was inducted into the college’s Hall of Fame in 2016.
“Keith had the ability to go into a place mentally and with such intense focus that I had never experienced in other athletes that I had coached until then,” his coach Karen Boen said in a statement. “This mental tenacity enabled him to go deeper physically than his competitors were capable of.”
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Fidalgo, the Brockton High track coach, said Brockton is proud of anyone from the city who accomplishes something and takes on the persona of the City of Champions.
“It’s a personality and mindset of Brockton people to go for the win and never back down,” Fidalgo said. “We’re fierce competitors.”
In one of the few interviews Gill ever gave publicly, he said he would like to use the money he made to give back to the community. “I always wanted to build an indoor track facility or a field house in Brockton,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “And now, it looks like I actually could do that.”
As of 2023, a new indoor track or field house had not been built in Brockton.
Where is Keith Gill now?
Gill, now around 36, has been notoriously private since making his millions. In 2021, he was living in Wilmington, Mass. with his wife (played by Shailene Woodley) and child.
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Where can I watch “Dumb Money” near Brockton?
“Dumb Money” is playing in theaters at the Showcase Cinema de Lux in Randolph, the Showcase Cinema de Lux in Hanover, and the AMC in Braintree.
While a streaming release date hasn’t been announced, it will likely end up on Netflix due to Sony Pictures exclusive streaming deal with the media giant that was signed in 2022. You can also pre-order the film on Amazon.
