Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

R

Released Apr 22, 2005

1 hr. 53 min.

Documentary

List

97%

119 Reviews

Tomatometer

87%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

This documentary explores the fall of the Enron Corporation, arguably the most shocking example of modern corporate corruption. The company is linked with several illegal schemes, including instigating the California energy crisis as a way to drive up utility prices at the expense of the average American. In a hyper-competitive environment, Enron traders resort to all kinds of underhanded dealings in order to make money at any cost and keep their high-paying jobs.

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Critics Consensus

A concise, entertaining documentary about the spectacular failure of Enron.

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Shael

The devastation of taking investors money and doing absolutely nothing with that cash but to line their own pockets and sell a success story with fake stocks.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

12/26/23

Full Review

Rory M

Fine. Very interested in business. Found the narrative a bit all over the place. Maybe I don't have the context of following it at the time

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/24/24

Full Review

Nawt W

A remarkably engaging documentary about how "the boys" were selling potential profits for 20 years with just their smiles, audacious demeanor, and a little bit of fraud. It's been almost twenty years, and the story of Enron doesn't even seem that unique anymore. There have been so many ludicrous stories of "fake it until you make it" and general accounting fraud incidents that the question of how they could think they would get away with this seems foolish. Moreover, some of them got away with it. Everyone sentenced for this has since been released. Lou Pai has been affected at all, and Jeff Skilling is doing energy trading again. And what has changed since anyway? Everyone still fabricates numbers and facts to keep that share price high because that's paramount to success. Corporate ethics or lack thereof are still toxic just in a more refined way. Likewise, everything is still run by people who will go to their graves before they acknowledge that they prioritize their bottom line and hundreds of millions in offshore accounts over tens of thousands of employees.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

07/10/23

Full Review

Michael S

Explaining Enron's vast labyrinth of lies is a tall task, but Alex Gibney's Oscar-nominated documentary does a good job laying it all out... and making you furious in the process.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

So going into this movie I thought it was a movie like Wall Street but it's a documentary. I've heard great things about this but people must be joking. This documentary is the stereotypical documentary about a corrupt company. I've never heard of Enron and I never knew they were a big company better yet a huge scandal. After watching this I felt like it was a waste of time. The moral of the story is don't steal money because you'll never get away with it nobody how "smart" you are. Maybe if you want to see a failing company fall watch this but I prefer to see documentaries about companies succeeding and then 10 years later they fall. Whatever this is, is not for me. Nov 5 22

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

william d

It's clear the Writer/Producer/Director Alex Gibney has an ideological ax to grind. An inordinate amount of time is spent on the Bush family's connection to disgraced Enron CEO Ken Lay without once mentioning that the vast majority of Enron's deceptive practices occurred during the Clinton administration. Gibney makes it seem like California Governor Gray Davis' recall was due to a conspiracy between Schwarzenegger and the Bushes, ignoring the budget crisis that enveloped California after the dot com bubble burst and Davis' insistence on raising taxes. For some reason he also veers off into the Milgram experiment where subjects were told to administer electric shocks in response to incorrect answers. The actual inner workings of Enron and the fraud that ensued, most notable Andy Fastow's shell companies, are given short shrift, as is the story of whistleblower Sherron Watkins. If you want the true story of Enron without the political hatchet job and anti-free market viewpoint I recommend Kurt Eichenwald's book, "Conspiracy of Fools."

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Alex Gibney

Director

Peter Coyote

Narrator

Mark Cuban

Executive Producer

Todd Wagner

Executive Producer

Joana Vicente

Executive Producer

Alex Gibney

Producer

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Martin Hoyle

Financial Times

Gibney's film never forgets the human side: the macho execs nearly killing themselves on boys' vacations with motorbikes, sky-diving and general risk-enhanced bonding; the suicide of one, the scapegoat imprisonment of another.

Oct 7, 2018

Full Review

Victoria Segal

New Statesman

... Enron: the smartest guys in the room pinpoints a moment when corporate morality was shredded like so many tonnes of incriminating documents in a big business run by small, small men.

Sep 26, 2017

Full Review

David Ansen

Newsweek

Audiences jeered and shouted at the screen in outrage. It has that kind of impact, without resorting to any of Michael Moore's below-the-belt tactics.

Nov 1, 2007

Full Review

Michael Clark

Epoch Times

In addition to being one of the most talented documentarian filmmakers alive, Mr. Gibney was also wise enough to recognize there was no need for dramatic or comedic overcooked embellishment here.

Rated: 4.5/5

Nov 18, 2023

Full Review

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

This essential documentary skillfully maps out the shady "mark to market" accounting device that the men who called themselves "the smartest guys in the room" used to commit corporate fraud on a colossal scale.

Rated: B+

May 9, 2009

Full Review

Jim Lane

Sacramento News & Review

Rated: 4/5

Aug 7, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

This documentary explores the fall of the Enron Corporation, arguably the most shocking example of modern corporate corruption. The company is linked with several illegal schemes, including instigating the California energy crisis as a way to drive up utility prices at the expense of the average American. In a hyper-competitive environment, Enron traders resort to all kinds of underhanded dealings in order to make money at any cost and keep their high-paying jobs.

Director: Alex Gibney
Executive Producer: Mark Cuban, Todd Wagner, Joana Vicente
Screenwriter: Alex Gibney
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: HDNet
Rating: R (Some Nudity|Language)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 22, 2005, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 31, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $4.1M

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