Jodie Foster’s latest conspiracy/hostage thriller is a mixed bag of the movie where a lot of mediocre-to-good elements somehow coalesce into a pretty enjoyable film. Credit a superb central performance by George Clooney as well as a screenplay that deftly infuses just the right mix of tension and humor to keep the audience caught up in the story.

Clooney plays a financial TV cable news host who has been recommending the stock of Ibis Clear Capital for the past few weeks, so he has egg on his face when a computer glitch causes that stock to drop $800,000,000 overnight. Embarrassment turns into danger when a gunman (Jack O’Connell) storms into the TV studio with a gun and a bomb vest. He takes the host as his hostage and threatens to execute him on live TV unless he gets some answers as to why his money has suddenly vanished.

Julia Roberts plays the show’s producer, who is trying to diffuse the situation from her production booth. Her efforts to find answers about the stock collapse reveal a corporate conspiracy, which leads to the amusing second half situation, in which the hostage teams up with the gunman in an absurdist quest for truth.

“Money Matters” has a lot of these amusing moments, although it never rises to the point where I could call the film a genuine comedy. In fact, it’s hard to pin the film down because it’s everything from a hostage thriller, a conspiracy mystery, an indictment of the global financial system and an interpersonal drama to boot. The film doesn’t dwell on any of these elements long enough to give it a strong point of view, although that doesn’t get in the way of the story’s momentum.

Clooney gets the lion’s share of the credit for making the film so appealing. He turns the TV host into a likeable rascal, which is not an easy task given the public’s general dislike of Wall Street and the media. O’Connell is also quite good playing the desperate gunman who is so filled with anger that he threatens to explode at any moment. Roberts makes less of an impact, but that’s to be expected because she’s physically separated from the action for most of the film.

I’m a bit surprised that we haven’t seen more films like “Money Monster” before now. These films would seem to be tailor-made to tie in to the emotions of a movie-going public still hurting from the financial crisis. Those emotions do give this film some added impact, but it’s not enough to make it into a truly memorable film. The end result is an enjoyable, albeit slight drama that will appeal to grownups for a few weeks before disappearing under the onslaught of summer popcorn movies.

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and seen weekly on KFDM and KBTV. Sean welcomes your comments via email atsmcbride@sbgtv.com.com.