Former friends Naomi Bishop (Anna Gunn) and Samantha Ryan (Alysia Reiner) reunite for a power women panel. Naomi is a top investment banker with a hot IPO of internet privacy firm Cachet. She faces a glass ceiling especially after a problematic previous client. She's sleeping with corrupt trader Michael Connor (James Purefoy) who is desperate for inside information and is being investigated by US prosecutor Ryan. A programmer reveals a hack vulnerability to Naomi which Cachet CEO Ed vehemently denies. Naomi gets ambitious underling Erin Manning (Sarah Megan Thomas) for Ed to sign an indemnity clause.There are moments of greatness especially with Anna Gunn holding the center of the stage. This is almost good except little false notes keep popping up. I'm guessing Blackberry paid for the mention but it's shockingly unreal how every character is playing up their Blackberry phones. I'm fine with people going darker in the end but Naomi needs to be fired as a scapegoat. The movie fails to increase the intensity in many scenes with the exception of the climatic trading day. I love that Erin is secretly pregnant but Ed's pass at her needs to be bigger and more dangerously private. One of the reason I love Naomi being chewed out by her boss is that there is no buildup. He just barges in and starts barking at her. It's very effective. The connection between Naomi and Samantha needs to be tighter so that Samantha's part doesn't drift off so easily. It's obvious when Naomi gets the info that even a rumor could sink the IPO. The way to heighten the drama is for Naomi to lay out the ending of the movie directly to Ed and for the ending to happen nevertheless. She should tell Ed not to fire Marin and he fires her anyways. It's already bad that she's sleeping with Michael and gets blindsided by him. She can come off as a bit naive despite her brilliant smarts. While I get the female position in the professional sphere, the movie is not pushing the drama hard enough.

Anna Gunn, who played Walt's wife on Breaking Bad, stars in "Equity," a 2016 film. Directed by Meera Menon, it was written by Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, and Amy Fox. The film also features both Thomas and Reiner, as well as Craig Bierko and James Purefoy.The title has a dual meaning: It's about Wall Street, and it's about women in what used to be man's world. Gunn is Naomi Bishop, an investment banker brought into her current firm to be a "rainmaker." It hasn't been going great for her since her last initial public offering didn't go very well. Her job is to bring private companies public by selling to institutional investors at a good price, and those investors sell the company on the stock market.Naomi has an excellent prospect to bring public, a company called Cachet, which deals in keeping information private. And the waters are shark-filled. First, there is her ambitious, pregnant assistant Erin (Thomas), Naomi's broker boyfriend, Michael (Purefoy), and an old friend who is now a prosecutor looking into insider trading (Reiner). On top of all of it, the owner of Cachet doesn't like her and prefers working with Erin. Before she knows it, Naomi is on the defensive.The way these IPOs work when there is chicanery involved is the following: Someone gets some negative insider info and gives it to the press, driving the price way down before the offering goes to the public. After the offering goes on the stock market at, say $13 less than was promised, all these people buy it. Then whomever gave them the info retracts her statement. The price goes up. The buyers clean up. I guess the moral of this story is that women are as driven and as underhanded and as untrustworthy as men are in certain businesses. You can't trust anyone, your friends most of all.The acting was good. For me the script was underdeveloped. It took us into the lives of three women but didn't go quite far enough for me. This situation was presented in a simplistic manner, but one certainly did feel the pressure the main character was under. No such thing as a free lunch.

i loved it. didn't expect much as it as not a high profile Hollywood movie and my husband had watched and suggested that i watch it. i started the movie with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. It built up to a strong story and i didn't move from the couch. Anna Gunn does a great job of representing the 40+ female executive in the investment industry and how she deals with a male environment, competition from others and people looking for info. she plays a smart controlled woman in a uncontrollable industry. It could have easily been a male lead as the story development was superb. i was not familiar with Gunn and from this recognized her in Sully and will follow her career now. Watch this movie.

This movie was just the one we needed! A female-driven drama about life in Wall Street. The third act is where everything fell flat. If Meera Menon was looking to film the fictional exploits of women in the corporate world, I would have no problem. But, that's not what she wants. She's reaching for something higher. Something like Margin Call. And that's where she falters. Before I continue, let me just put it out there that I'm a male and a feminist. I love movies with female-oriented roles, because it's about freaking time it happened. Equity however wasn't a step forward. Nobody's moving. Everything is stiff. I will however appreciate the crew's efforts in developing this slick film. And now, the drawbacks: - The dialogues seemed forced and in many cases, acting too. The closing monologue features Sam (Alysia Reiner) repeating something she heard her former friend, Naomi (Anna Gunn) had said before. When Naomi said it, there was a punch. Alysia just does a verbatim impression with no vigor.As mentioned earlier, the performances weren't up to the mark. Anna Gunn steals the show with her ballsy performance. Alysia Reiner on the other hand doesn't really do her role any justice. She just looks like a determined agent in the first 80 minutes and then falls back. That mean stare is absent in the last 20-25 minutes of the movie. Her delivery lacks the punch. - The stereotypical career woman who's deciding between work and family: played by Sarah Megan Thomas in the film, this career woman, oh let's call her "Liberty", not only is confused with the imbalance but is also pregnant and carries out an affair. - All men are evil. First, Ghostbusters. Now, Equity. Men are evil people. And this also includes Naomi's boyfriend, Michael, played by James Purefoy, who isn't sure of what accent to choose from. First, he sounds like a New Yorker. Then, he's Irish, and somehow he goes Canadian (I swear I heard him say "aboot"). Purefoy was brilliant in The Following, but this just shouldn't be in his resume. Want a reason to watch Equity? Anna Gunn and a good attempt by the team. Or just watch Margin Call and imagine Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany and Jeremy Irons have two x chromosomes.