What went through the minds of the masters of the universe just before their world — and ours — collapsed? Three years after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers helped start a spiral that still hasn’t stopped, the question remains mostly unanswered. The new film “Margin Call” is an ambitious attempt to explain not how the financial crisis unfolded, but why those in charge made the mistakes they did. This small movie fails, however — and spectacularly.

Not only does it offer no new insights into an issue everyone needs to understand; it’s also about as enthralling as watching an investment banker pace his office all day while alternately talking and yelling into the telephone glued onto his ear.