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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

  • 20052005
  • RR
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
18K
YOUR RATING
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • IMDbPro
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
Play trailer2:01
1 Video
33 Photos
  • Documentary
  • Biography
  • History
A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
18K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Alex Gibney
  • Writers
    • Alex Gibney
    • Bethany McLean(book "The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron")
    • Peter Elkind(book "The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron")
  • Stars
    • John Beard
    • Tim Belden(archive footage)
    • Barbara Boxer(archive footage)
Top credits
  • Director
    • Alex Gibney
  • Writers
    • Alex Gibney
    • Bethany McLean(book "The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron")
    • Peter Elkind(book "The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron")
  • Stars
    • John Beard
    • Tim Belden(archive footage)
    • Barbara Boxer(archive footage)
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 46User reviews
    • 52Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 3 wins & 11 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:01
    Official Trailer

    Photos33

    Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Kenneth Lay in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Mimi Swartz in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Sherron Watkins in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    James Chanos in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    George W. Bush and Kenneth Lay in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Gray Davis in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Loretta Lynch in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Kenneth Lay in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Max Eberts in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    Bill Lerach in Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

    Top cast

    Edit
    John Beard
    • Self - Former Enron Accountantas Self - Former Enron Accountant
    Tim Belden
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Barbara Boxer
    Barbara Boxer
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    George W. Bush
    George W. Bush
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    James Chanos
    James Chanos
    • Self - President, Kynikos Associatesas Self - President, Kynikos Associates
    • (as Jim Chanos)
    Dick Cheney
    Dick Cheney
    • Selfas Self
    Bill Clinton
    Bill Clinton
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    Carol Coale
    • Self - Ex-Stock Analyst, Prudential Securitiesas Self - Ex-Stock Analyst, Prudential Securities
    Peter Coyote
    Peter Coyote
    • Narratoras Narrator
    Gray Davis
    Gray Davis
    • Self - Former Governor of Californiaas Self - Former Governor of California
    Reggie Dees II
    • Self - Young man the stripper dances in front ofas Self - Young man the stripper dances in front of
    • (as Reggie Deets II)
    Joseph Dunn
    • Self - California State Senatoras Self - California State Senator
    Max Eberts
    Max Eberts
    • Self - Former Spokesman, Enron Energy Servicesas Self - Former Spokesman, Enron Energy Services
    Peter Elkind
    • Self - Co-Author, 'The Smartest Guys in the Room'as Self - Co-Author, 'The Smartest Guys in the Room'
    Andrew Fastow
    Andrew Fastow
    • Selfas Self
    • (archive footage)
    David Freeman
    • Self - Former Advisor to Governor Davisas Self - Former Advisor to Governor Davis
    Philip Hilder
    • Selfas Self
    Al Kaseweter
    • Selfas Self
    • Director
      • Alex Gibney
    • Writers
      • Alex Gibney
      • Bethany McLean(book "The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron")
      • Peter Elkind(book "The Smartest Guys in the Room - The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron")
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
    • All cast & crew

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Among the protesters who disrupt the meeting with Jeff Skilling at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club is Marla Ruzicka. The former Global Exchange activist founded CIVIC (Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict), which worked to help the victims of the war in Iraq. She died in Iraq on April 16, 2005, the victim of a suicide bombing.
    • Quotes

      Jeffrey Skilling: Oh I can't help myself. You know what the difference between the state of California and Titanic? And this is being webcast, and I know I'm going to regret this - at least when the Titanic went down, the lights were on.

    • Connections
      Featured in Independent Lens: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
    • Soundtracks
      What's He Building in There?
      Written by Tom Waits

      Jalma Music

      Performed by Tom Waits

      Courtesy of Anti/Epitaph Records

    User reviews46

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    Stylish but Soft-Hitting
    "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room" is suave and well-crafted, but betrays some wishful thinking and apologist tendencies.

    Some ex-Enron workers venture poetic but unmerited speculations about their corrupter associates, conjuring hypothetical images of their former friends now reflecting back on their transgressions and experiencing ethical remorse. We are subjected to clichés about their having to face their own "shadows" and whatnot, all of it speculative, and in spite of any evidence that they ever experienced a moral twinge or regretted anything other than getting caught.

    There's also an insidious "slippery slope" message, some philosophical waxing upon the blurriness of ethical lines, and depictions of compulsive personalities, all of which introduce unwarranted moral ambiguity. Bethany McLean, one of the investigative journalists, surprisingly lays overmuch of the blame on Andrew Fastow, declaring that the fraud started with him (!) even though Fastow is elsewhere shown to have been recruited into a company already corrupt from the top down. There is some subtle attempt at containment here. This film skewers the culprits one moment, but then shrinks from the implications.

    The WORST example is a naive question given undue emphasis by being left "provocatively" open-ended. The narrator, Peter Coyote, asks, "What motivated the corrupt traders? Was it their million dollar bonuses? Or was it docile complicity?" (I'm paraphrasing here) A no-brainer answer you might think, but then - I kid you not - the documentary suggests the second possibility and launches into the fascinating but entirely irrelevant Milgram experiment, in which reluctant subjects are persuaded by an authority figure to voluntarily electrocute others. But Enron traders were a uniformly sanguine lot, evidenced by testimonials and taped conversations displaying naked greed and delight (generous clips of which are included in the documentary). Yet we are supposed to imagine they were the victims of obedience training?

    It's a bit much...

    Maybe two or three of the commentators don't pussyfoot around, and through them "The Smartest Guys" successfully conveys the perils of the free market and deregulation; but these lessons get watered down by wistful undertones and feigned ambiguity. Post-Enron, the communist charge that capitalists are "cannibals" now seems undeniably apt. Yet we forever flatter ourselves, rehearsing the cant of the free market ideology, according to which the profit motive encourages 1) innovation and 2) hard work. Granted. But what the pundits and economists invariably overlook is that the profit motive also encourages 3) robbery. Adam Smith's *other* "invisible hand," if you will ...hidden behind the back and gripping a knife! Enron calls for an inquiry into the nature of capitalism, not an explanation based upon specific personalities. Human nature is what it is, and there will always be people ready and willing to cut throats when given motivation and opportunity. To misquote the NRA: People don't kill people.. incentives do.

    Final criticism: a bit of shabby hypocrisy. One of the Enron execs is portrayed as having sleazy encounters with strippers; the viewer is then dutifully treated to lots of footage of nude strippers... ha!
    helpful•29
    7
    • maxschmeder
    • Aug 9, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 20, 2005 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • PBS
    • Languages
      • Romanian
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Enron: Những Kẻ Láu Cá
    • Production companies
      • Jigsaw Productions
      • 2929 Productions
      • HDNet Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $4,071,700
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $76,639
      • Apr 24, 2005
    • Gross worldwide
      • $4,854,164
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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