Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Directors
Alex Gibney
Actors
- John Beard
- Tim Belden
- Barbara Boxer
Credits: 3
Summary
A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.
More about this movie
Enron dives from the seventh largest US company to bankruptcy in less than a year in this tale told chronologically. The emphasis is on human drama, from suicide to 20,000 people sacked: the personalities of Ken Lay (with Falwellesque rectitude), Jeff Skilling (he of big ideas), Lou Pai (gone with $250 M), and Andy Fastow (the dark prince) dominate. Along the way, we watch Enron game California's deregulated electricity market, get a free pass from Arthur Andersen (which okays the dubious mark-to-market accounting), use greed to manipulate banks and brokerages (Merrill Lynch fires the analyst who questions Enron's rise), and hear from both Presidents Bush what great guys these are.