Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

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"The Smartest Guys in the Room" redirects here. For the 2003 book by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, see The Smartest Guys in the Room (book).

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlex Gibney
Written byAlex Gibney
Based on The Smartest Guys in the Room
by Bethany McLean
Peter Elkind
Produced by
Narrated byPeter Coyote
CinematographyMaryse Alberti
Edited byAlison Ellwood
Music byMatthew Hauser
Production
companies
Distributed byMagnolia Pictures
Release date
  • April 22, 2005 (2005-04-22)
[2]
Running time
109 minutes[3]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$700,000[4]
Box office$4.9 million[5]

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a 2005 American

Archival footage is used alongside new interviews with McLean and Elkind, several former Enron executives and employees, stock analysts, reporters, and former Governor of California Gray Davis
.

The film won the awards for

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards.[7][8]

Synopsis

The film begins with a profile of

margin call
. Lay later denies having knowledge of any wrongdoing.

Lay hires

Enron Energy Services, notorious for his nightly habit of visiting strip clubs
. Pai abruptly resigns from EES, having already sold $250 million of stock as a result of divorce proceedings.

With its success in the

investment banks, pressuring them into investing in these shell entities. However, Fastow has a vested financial stake in these ventures and uses them to defraud Enron of tens of millions of dollars in business deals that he effectively conducts with himself. All of this is done with the permission of Enron's accounting firm Arthur Andersen
and Enron's corporate board. Most of these deals were leveraged with Enron stock, meaning that a significant decline in their stock price could cause Fastow's network of shell companies to fall apart. During this time, Enron's executives encourage employees to invest their savings and retirement funds into Enron stock while they are selling off their shares for millions.

Enron's successes continue as it becomes one of the few

BusinessWeek
, Fortune's competitor.

Public perception of Enron begins to change due to its role in the

Frontline that "We are the good guys. We are on the side of angels." Eventually, the Democratic-controlled United States Senate
ends the crisis by imposing price controls. Bush's connections to Ken Lay come under scrutiny in the press, which intensifies after Enron's collapse.

Meanwhile, throughout 2001, much more scrutiny is brought upon Enron's balance sheet, which agitates Skilling, who is on the verge of a

Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in November 2001.

As a result of Enron's bankruptcy, many of its employees lose their pensions and life savings, while investors lose over $11 billion in shareholder value. Skilling testifies at the ensuing congressional hearings, but Ken Lay and Andrew Fastow

defense attorneys
, with their trials scheduled to take place in 2006.

Cast

  • Peter Coyote, narrator
  • Bethany McLean, Fortune reporter; co-author, The Smartest Guys in the Room
  • Peter Elkind, co-author, The Smartest Guys in the Room
  • whistleblower
    ; co-author, Power Failure
  • Mimi Swartz, executive editor, Texas Monthly magazine; co-author, Power Failure
  • Mike Muckleroy, former Enron executive
  • Amanda Martin, former Enron executive
  • Charles Wickman, former Enron trader
  • Colin Whitehead, former Enron trader
  • John Beard, former Enron accountant
  • Max Eberts, former spokesman,
    Enron Energy Services
  • Carol Coale, senior vice president and senior research analyst, Prudential Securities
  • Bill Lerach
    , attorney for Enron stockholders
  • Gray Davis, former governor of California
  • David Freeman, former advisor to governor Davis
  • Philip H. Hilder, Sherron Watkins' attorney

Reception

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room received positive reviews. It has a rating of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 119 reviews, with an average rating of 8.09/10; the site's consensus states: "A concise, entertaining documentary about the spectacular failure of Enron."[9] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 82%, based on 37 reviews.[10]

Film critic

Ebert & Roeper, Chicago Tribune critic Richard Roeper, said the film is "a brilliantly executed, brutally entertaining dissection of what one observer called the greatest corporate fraud in American history". A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that: "This sober, informative chronicle of the biggest business scandal of the decade is almost indecently entertaining." Owen Gleiberman called the film: "A nimble investigative workout that leaves you with the exhilarated sensation of understanding the defining financial scandal of the virtual era."[12]

The film won the award for

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, but lost to March of the Penguins.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  2. ^ PopMatters
  3. ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". British Board of Film Classification. May 11, 2005. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
  4. ^ Kirsner, Scott (December 1, 2005). "Maverick Mogul". Fast Company. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  5. ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)". Box Office Mojo. September 29, 2005. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  6. ^ a b "WGA docu nods to 'Enron'". variety.com. Variety. February 1, 2006. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  7. ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2004)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2008. Archived from the original on January 13, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  8. ^ 2006|Oscars.org
  9. ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". Rotten Tomatoes. April 22, 2005. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  10. ^ "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". Metacritic. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  11. ^ Ebert, Roger (April 28, 2005). "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  12. ^ Gleiberman, Owen; Schwarzbaum, Lisa (February 7, 2005). "Sundance Film Festival". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved December 31, 2018.
  13. ^ Documentary Winners: 2006 Oscars

External links

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