The sentimental strain is both unconvincing and ungrounded, but in the all-too-rare moments when Murphy, who invests with psychodrama the role of a misfit learning manners, lets himself go the movie comes brilliantly to life.
Barclays' executives are Wall Streeters at heart, but that sentimental attachment counts for little with American regulators and politicians, who would hesitate to take responsibility for a too-big-to-fail British retail bank.