Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

"It’s just business."

2005 1h 50m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🔥

97%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

7.6

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 307🍅97%Rotten Tomatoes★7.6IMDB · 20,423

Documentary

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A documentary about the Enron corporation, its faulty and corrupt business practices, and how they led to its fall.

“It’s just business.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Peter Coyote
Self - Narrator (voice)
John Beard
Self
Jim Chanos
Self
Dick Cheney
Self
Carol Coale
Self
Gray Davis
Self
Reggie Dees II
Self
Joseph Dunn
Self

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alex Gibney
Writers: Alex Gibney
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 6

ERA

Did you know

Released 21 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Alex Gibney, shot by Maryse Alberti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 6

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Matthew Hauser. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 6

CAST

Did you know

Peter Coyote and John Beard and Jim Chanos carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 6

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "It’s just business.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 6

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt1016268 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alex Gibney directs. Maryse Alberti behind the camera. Matthew Hauser scores. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 21 years ago.
2Directed by Alex Gibney, shot by Maryse Alberti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Matthew Hauser. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Peter Coyote and John Beard and Jim Chanos carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "It’s just business.".
6IMDB entry: tt1016268 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Classified under 10 themes, including "corruption", "capitalism", "bankrupt", "wall street".

The technical file

Cinematography: Maryse Alberti
Original score: Matthew Hauser
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)
Rotten Tomatoes: 97% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7.6/10 · 20,423 votes
MPAA: R
US box office: $4,071,700

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 11 nominations total

Also by

Alex Gibney

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

rsanek2021-12-30
★ 6/10
I'm surprised by the how often this movie is recommended on forums I frequent online, and the corresponding glowing Rotten Tomatoes reviews. I found the storytelling to be inconsistently paced, and there was nearly no depth to the description of actually how the fraud was perpetrated. The tie-in to California was interesting and I appreciated all of the primary content they were able to use -- company videos, recordings, etc. Still, I don't think I'd recommend this to a modern viewer.
GenerationofSwine2023-01-14
★ 10/10
From the start the documentary makes it clear that it's a hit-piece. It has a clear agenda it's pushing and the film makers don't hold back on telling the public that, yes, Enron was evil. However, honestly, despite that it was pretty fair. It actually made more of a point to detail how Enron got to the place that brought convictions rather than doing a straight hit-piece on the corporation. In other words, there is really a lot of meat on the bone here and it does a decent job of detailing the evolution of the company and why it turned out the way it did, rather than just focusing on the political mess that it created as one would have expected on a film covering this topic, and one with a fairly snarky title at that. There is a lot to learn from watching this, particularly because the scandal that engulfed the company was NOT the primary focus, but rather how it came to the scandal. And that, I really believe, is what the film should be about. It had a story to tell and it told it well, surprisingly well for a film that promised to be a hit-piece. We actually need more things like this. It was refreshing that it covered the circumstances and, most importantly, the hows rather than focusing on the results of Enrons actions. Illuminating would be the best phrase to use.