Doris Toumarkine

(2012-04-30 08:43:56)

A fun and demoralizing roller-coaster ride that will whet appetites for the Lay and Skilling debut in court as The Most Nervous Guys in the Room.

Gambitt

(2012-04-29 21:58:27)

Ask why

"Ask why" was Enron's enormously ironic marketing slogan for many yearspreceding its collapse, even as company officials ignored, shut out,and denigrated the few analysts, reporters, and employees who paused toask why and how exactly the company was making money claimed in itsearnings reports.The film will make you shake your head at the gall of Enron, from itsself-assured, overly confident executives to the merciless conduct ofthe energy traders bred within the company's cut-throat culture.The film discusses the casualties of the Enron fallout, from itsemployees, its stockholders, retirees who held Enron shares, the entirestate of California and Gov. Gray Davis himself.The film provides a scathing criticism of capitalism unleashed, anaspect that I believe is most overlooked in the wake of Enron,Worldcom, and Tyco. The film, as did most media reports, focused on thepersonal conduct of the key players, the high-power executives nowmired in civil and criminal proceedings: CEO Jeffrey Skilling, CEOKenneth Lay (now deceased), and CFO Andrew Fastow.While the conceit and deceit of these executives cannot be over-stated,so much emphasis on their individual culpability distracts from theoverall culture of communal greed and reckless hype that saturated allof society during the late 1990s and early 2000s.In the film, Sherron Watkins, a former Enron VP considered by some tobe a whistleblower, commented: "Enron should not be viewed as anaberration, something that can't happen somewhere else . . . It canhappen again." Right now, we still live in the shadow of Enron, with heavy-handedoversight and finger-wagging politicians. The real challenge will be 10or 20 years from now, when the country is experiencing its next majoreconomic boom. Will analysts do their job and demand to see properbalance sheets? Will regulators turn a blind eye to questionableaccounting practices? Will shareholders even care that puppetmastersmay be manipulating the skyrocketing numbers? Will ANYONE care so long as gobs of money are being made, until its toolate? We humans have a very short memory, and history tends to repeatitself.I would rate the documentary higher, except that I found much of theinserted pop-culture clips to be unnecessary, distracting, andgratuitous (five minutes of strippers?).

(2012-04-29 07:49:25)

I Only Review Excellent Works

This review is from: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (DVD) I show a clip from the film in my measuring leadership course, which prompts most students to buy or rent the DVD. Very thought-provoking, with clear explanations of a complicated and important story about organizational culture and ethical corruption. Excellent.

(2012-04-28 21:16:14)

The Emperor Has No Clothes

I watched this film with a knot in my stomach and heart.Then deep sadness for the thousands whose lives were destroyed by Enron's collapse.You're probably familiar with the basic Enron story, but this film will bring it to life with a vengeance.- Watch Andrew Fastow assert no conflict of interest while he serves simultaneously as Enron's CFO and also an officer of limited partnerships Enron's transacting with.- See Jeffrey Skilling act in a skit parodying Arthur Andersen allowing the company to book projected earnings as current earnings.- Listen as Skilling calls a securities analyst an a**hole during an earnings call because the analyst challenges him on why Enron doesn't publish a conventional balance sheet or cash flow statement.- See an unnamed female executive gleefully tell Enron's rank and file to maintain 100% of their wealth in Enron stock.- Ken Lay is simply astonishing. Truly the Emperor with No Clothes - a man so caught up in his own mythology he loses all sense of right and wrong.- George Bush I and II make interesting appearances.New to me, and not as publicized at the time, was Enron's direct involvement initiating and perpetuating the 2000-2001 California energy crisis. If you sufferered through this first hand, you'll no doubt be enraged.Sadly, this film is for everyone. It should be required viewing for all corporate officers and directors, accountants, lawyers, bankers, trustees and other fiduciaries. Your perspective on corporate ethics and morality will never be the same.

(2012-04-27 20:14:24)

How documentaries should be made!

Like "Fahrenheit 9/11" before it, this documentary uses interesting editing, visuals, and music to present information in a very eye-catching, ear-stimulating way. The choice of music is right on target, and I couldn't think of a better way to punch up the scenes.Watching this is like a recap of everything I've read about Enron since it's demise. Amazingly enough, I had never heard about Enron until its spectacular collapse. Watching this just baffles me how Wall Street allowed Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, and Andrew Fastow to get away with their scheme for a long time. According to the well-researched film, Jeff Skilling was a man who thought he should be able to financially benefit immediately from whatever idea popped into his head, regardless of whether the idea was feasable or not. That should have been a warning sign right there. Any crackpot could have an idea...why should they get paid millions just for having it? That's what research and development are for.The story of this company is a cautionary tale for the ages. They kept digging a deeper and deeper hole, shuffling money around to cover their losses, while lying to shareholders and employees that they should put all their money into Enron stock! Though George W. Bush denies ever knowing Ken Lay, who can take that seriously...as Enron boomed while Bush was governor and several Enron employees ended up working in the Bush Administration. And when we look at our economy and several cronies in high positions, we can see how much Enron's operating style is reflected in the Bush government. Such a denial is rather convenient and lacking credibility.Also interesting is that Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling want to pin all the blame for Enron's collapse on Andrew Fastow. How is it possible that a CEO of a company, who gets annual bonuses in the millions, can claim that he didn't know things were going on under his watch? Part of being a CEO is taking responsibility for the company. But Lay and Skilling want it both ways...they want the millions in perks that come with being a CEO but none of the responsibility. Their denials have more to do with avoiding jail time than not knowing what Andrew Fastow was doing.Perhaps the most outrageous thing that Enron did is the manipulation of the California energy crisis in order to get more money to cover their losses. In the film, Jeff Skilling tells one of the most obscene jokes I've ever heard a person say. He told a roomful of investors: "What's the difference between California and the Titanic? At least when the Titanic went down, the lights were still on." Considering how many people's lives were disrupted, inconvenienced, and even a few deaths...just so Skilling and Lay can cover their behinds and rake in some dough, what they did is nothing short of criminal.This documentary should be seen by every American. It is up to everyone not to be conned by numbers racketeering. We need to demand competence in our leaders/CEOs/anyone in positions of authority. We shouldn't easily accept a company reporting rosy figures year after year without the paperwork to back up their claims. And most of all, we shouldn't let the CEOs off the hook as they claim ignorance about what went on. If they are willing to bilk employees out of their savings just to afford their multi-million dollar lifestyles, then they can afford to do the time behind bars.

Michael Wilmington

(2012-04-27 11:21:40)

The movie does more than entertain and enlighten you. At the end, you also realize you've been watching a classic American tale, one that we can only hope will never be repeated -- though it well might be.

(2012-04-27 15:22:51)

The Enron Fiasco

It was a difficult story to present as the tale is mired in litigation which is ongiong.

J. Hoberman

(2012-04-27 08:23:18)

Less corporate noir than capitalist disaster film.

(2012-04-26 18:08:30)

A disappointment. Wish the movie could be more informative

i have wanted to see this movie for a long time. for one, i know Enron was really an innovative company but i wanted to learn how the company failed. after watching the movie begin to end for 2 hours (including the special features), i was totally disappointed. reasons below: 1. heavy on popularism and light on business/financials. Enron is a business financial story but the movie attempted to do a "Roger & Me" (Michael Moore). so you threw in the conspiracy theroies that Bush family is intimately linked to Lay , threw in Bush 21, Bush 23, Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan's deregulations, evils of free market, evils of capitalism - voila!! the source of all evils and the satan is released from hell!!! :) No doubt this appeals to a certain segment of political sensivities, however, it shined little light on the true nature of Enron's failure in business finance, in legal, in corporate governance. this is the most glaring weakness of this movie. 2. weak on business finance, heavy on pseudo "good vs evil" psychology. just one example. - Enron's play on california's rolling blackouts . the movie laid the blame on the greedy and evil traders (yes the movie called them evil). however, the movie never called out the fact that california legislators and energy managers failure in managing the state's energy supply prudently. for one, california insisted to buy energy at spot rate and refused many hedging proposals that most states used which would "lock in" energy prices at a fixed rate. CA would rather take market risk (or some political commentators stated that they have no option) as spot rate was very low compared to hedged rates. problem is, if you have no risk management system, you get wiped out when risk came. case in point, the reason your burger at McDonald is always sold at the same price despite the constantly fluctuation of cattle price is McDonald's got into sophisticated hedging strategy such that no matter what the spot market price of a cattle, they always pay the same fixed price to get the beef. thus Enron's traders were totally LEGAL in their trading activities. legally and financially, all good and legit. politcally, bad. simple question, why the other 49 states did not have rolling blackout and only CA? the film blamed Bush administration for not helping CA. 3. the whistle blowers - Sharon Watkin was made to be a heroine in this movie. she may very well be. however, let's face it. she was just an accountant counting beans in the organisation. never in her career at Enron she contributed any creative money making idea (if she did, the movie did not highlight that). it is easy for someone to "pile it on" when Enron was collasping. so beware the do gooders. they may be the worst losers. 4. Enron employees loss of $12 billion retirement funds. you are talking about many PGE and Enron workers whose entire investment and pension funds were 100% invested in Enron stocks. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT. c'mon. these employees thought Enron stock was a sure win when Enron was rising 100% a year. so they moved all their assets into Enron, deliberately and knowingly. some even borrowed money to buy Enron!! i am not saying this is bad but if you decided to win it all with one roll of dice then you cannot be complaining when the numbers did not turn out your way. of course, the movie did not dwell on this as this is unkind of blame the 'small guys' when the big guys are making big bucks. however, if you play it like Vegas, you can't be complaining when the house wins. i strongly suggest you see this movie but definitely check out the Enron documentary produced by CNBC which in my opinion is a much better, more informative (yes there were corporate fraud and financial misdeeds at grand scale). however, Enron truly had lots of smart guys and some of their trading and investment strategies are total sophisticated and unique. (the movie never touched on this).

Stephen Whitty

(2012-04-26 06:17:14)

[Gibney] tells a complex story well, explaining how one once-obscure company ended up committing 'the corporate crime of the century.'

Daniel M. Kimmel

(2012-04-22 00:08:28)

...it leaves viewers with a clearer understanding of the issues involved in a story too complicated to sum up in a TV newscast.

(2012-04-21 15:50:38)

The Smartest Men In A Room Full Of Stupid People

Rather than repeating what other reviewers have already written, I will only confirm that the 5 Star reviews here are pretty much right on target. This is an exceptionally good documentary for anyone interested in Corporate America in general, or the Enron scandal in particular. It is no small accomplishment to create a riveting film about accounting, but writer/director Alex Gibney somehow did it. Don't let the word "accounting" scare you away--this is a human interest story all the way.However, there is one thing that bothers me about this film, in that it places Enron executives on a kind of pedestal in the tradition of Greek tragedy, as if Lay, Skilling, Fastow, Pai and others deserved special recognition despite their actions. The commentators often give them credit for working hard and rising from poverty to the upper echelon of wealth, and they call that "success". To me, "success" has more to do with being a decent human being, whether you end up rich or poor, and decency seems to be completely absent in the major characters of this "tragedy". Indeed, for those who are not part of the corporate cult mentality, one could easily argue that these men probably would never have risen to such great heights if they had been decent, because the corporate model doesn't reward decency. It rewards only those who make the bottom line their God.The commentators also repeat their belief that the Enron executives, and Skilling in particular, were "smart" or "brilliant", and again the only evidence to support this is the fact that they rose from poverty to wealth, as if intelligence and wealth were somehow correlated. Having watched Skilling in action, "smart" is about the last word I would use to describe him. Clever, perhaps, but not smart. After all, these men devastated the lives of countless employees and investors, interfered with the U.S. government regulatory process, forced millions of Californians to endure unnecessary rolling blackouts, and generally destroyed everything they touched (except for Pai, who got away free and clear with a quarter billion dollars and a stripper). How could that possibly describe the actions of people who are "smart"? Again, they are confusing wealth with intelligence, when the two are completely unrelated (just compare the wealthy George W. Bush with impoverished Abe Lincoln in terms of intelligence and literacy).Lastly, I was horrified by the ease with which Kenneth Lay could express so much false empathy for the lives that Enron destroyed, while his actions show a completely different story. For example, after listing a litany of devastating effects the Enron collapse had on so many poor people, he notes that he and his wife will have to live with that shame for the rest of their lives. Then he notes that he himself has suffered right along with them when his net worth dropped to a mere $20 million. Poor baby.These were not the smartest men in the room. They were among the stupidest people our society has produced. If there is one lesson to be learned from the Enron scandal, I hope it is the lesson of what happens when stupid people aquire wealth and power, while others put them on a pedastal as being worthy of our consideration at all simply because they achieved that degree of wealth and power.

Marjorie Baumgarten

(2012-04-07 21:03:30)

The movie helps the average American understand the nature of the shell games perpetuated by Enron and how 'synergistic corruptions' can corrupt absolutely.

Pablo Villaca

(2012-04-07 12:45:14)

Fascinante do início ao fim, expõe o caso Enron e todas as suas complexas implicações de maneira didática e bem-humorada, funcionando, ainda, como um fantástico estudo sobre a natureza humana.

Lester Pimentel

(2012-03-31 02:23:20)

The mordant documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room cleverly deconstructs the men who reminded us of the dark side of the American dream.

Eric Harrison

(2012-03-30 21:53:13)

Alex Gibney's documentary based on the book is pretty much straight-ahead journalism

(2012-03-21 19:19:06)

Good Men Do Nothing

The only thing evil needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing. - MLK Proof positive that authoritarian personalities are hell bent on destroying all that is good and safe and nurturing in the world. What is evident from this well told, brilliantly edited saga is the blatant disregard for human life...the lives of their employess, the lives of their clients, the lives of the millions of civilians they robbed by creating false energy crisises, fake hedgefunds, and a spirit of valueless ascendancy in their traders, their investors, and themselves. This film and the story of Enron is a shameful cautionary tale to the nation of how greed, hubris and amorality breed implosion and collapse. America will not be destroyed from without, but from within. Unless we do something...

MaryAnn Johanson

(2012-03-21 09:35:42)

Gibney leaves us with a sense that the whole thing is like organized crime. No, wait: these Enron guys were even worse than the mafia.

(2012-03-19 18:23:38)

One of the best documentary I've seen!

Wow, I never thought I would see a documentary that would make me learn so much about something that affect us all now and yet the movie itself try to stay in the middle and not fall for the obvious subjective argument for his own agenda. Seem to be a pretty fair assesment of what happened and now we know why energy cost so much, thanks Enron and the infinite America capitalism. Now let's see if Walmart end up like Enron...I mind only my own pocket! Until nobody around me has job, nor me in the end.

(2012-03-19 15:03:32)

worth the money

This review is from: Enron - The Smartest Guys in the Room [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I think this is a fascinating and well done documentary. If you like documentaries this is perfect.