Review of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) by Alex C — 11 Jul 2005

[color=black][font=Tahoma]This movie has been in the theatres forever but I kept putting off seeing it because no matter how well-made a movie about Enron is, it's still going to be a movie about Enron. And I just can't seem to muster up the energy to wring my hands and gnash my teeth over corporate greed anymore.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]As you might expect, this film is mostly just a bunch of people sitting around talking about what happened. One after another trot out the same old hackneyed cliches to describe the culture at Enron and the events preceding its eventual collapse. If I had a million dollars for every time someone tells the camera that pre-bankruptcy Enron was a ?house of cards?, well, I'd still be a few hundred million dollars poorer than Ken Lay was before the house collapsed. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]Here's the CliffsNotes version of the movie:[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]Greedy traders. Complicit bankers. Mark-to-market accounting. Shady partnerships. Book cooking. Paper shredding. Energy deregulation. California power outages. Overvalued stock. Ken Lay. Jeff Skilling. Andy Fastow. Insider trading. Whistle blowing. Bankruptcy. Lost retirement savings. Indictments.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]At one point there was a Simpson's cartoon and that really livened things up for about 30 seconds or so but then back to blah blah blah greedy bastards. This movie could've used a few more cartoons. [/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]I was certainly no Enron expert before I saw this movie, but I knew enough about it that I wasn't prompted to gasp in indignant huffitude as I heard about the big guys lying and cheating and getting rich at the expense of the little guys. After all, greed is nothing new. It was named to the list of seven deadly sins compiled by Pope Gregory the Great way back in the 6th century when it was still known as "avarice". (A little-known precursor to People Magazine's sexiest men of the year list.)[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]So I guess if you're the sort that still gets worked up about evil corporations, this is the movie for you. It will confirm all of your already held beliefs and then some. It's not that it?s a bad film. It?s very good for what it is. And I?d give it a higher rating if I could think of anyone I know who I think might actually enjoy it. But the fact is, I think most of us are way too jaded by now to care much anymore.[/font][/color].