Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: April 22, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 37 Critic Reviews
Positive:
36
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A deeply straightforward yet beautifully crafted documentary. Read full review
100
PremierePeter Debruge
Delivers a polished and well-researched look at America 's largest corporate bankruptcy with a laser-sharp focus on the personalities, practices, and fates of the top executives behind the Enron meltdown. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Spellbinding. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
More than worthwhile. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
With no-nonsense narration by Peter Coyote and a soundtrack that's at once apt, ironic and really, really good, The Smartest Guys in the Room is anything but a dry dissection of a major Wall Street debacle. Read full review
100
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie grows richer as it goes along and contrasting pieces click together. Read full review
100
EmpireHelen O'Hara
Despite the talking heads and grainy blow-ups of TV footage, the film boasts some rather gorgeous cinematography and moves briskly, with the interviews masterfully edited. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
With this amoral business environment, it's not a question of if there will be another Enron, but when. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterJames Greenberg
Not only a great cautionary tale, it's a civics lesson that should be seen by every concerned citizen. Read full review
90
Dallas ObserverBill Gallo
A thoroughly professional, frequently spectacular piece of muckraking. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Fiercely intelligent, terrifying and absurdly funny documentary. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It's a chilling, completely fascinating documentary. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Truly a tale for our time. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
Is a movie worthwhile if it makes you sick? Absolutely, in the case of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Should hold you spellbound. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Entertaining and enraging. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is not a political documentary. It is a crime story. No matter what your politics, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room will make you mad. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Gordon Gekko didn't disappear with the 1980s; he just became a lot more difficult to pick out from a crowd. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Based on a best-selling book by Fortune magazine writers Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind, the film approaches Enron through the Horatio Alger saga of its founder, Kenneth Lay, the son of a dirt-poor Missouri Baptist minister. Read full review
80
Film ThreatPeter Hanson
It’s only by understanding what went wrong that we can hope to recognize the warning signs next time. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
The most blessedly traditional sort of documentary. It follows the twisty, complicated rise and fall of Enron in steady, chronological order, from the mid-eighties to the present. Read full review
80
VarietyJoe Leydon
By turns amazing, amusing and appalling. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Handsomely produced and photographed, which alone distinguishes it from the guerrilla standards of its cut-rate peers, Enron succeeds most by simply making a complex situation graspable, a tall order when the perpetrators are masters of grand-scale deception. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Soberly entertaining documentary. Read full review
80
The New York TimesDana Stevens
A tight, fascinating chronicle of arrogance and greed. Read full review
80
SlateDavid Edelstein
The documentary cannot be called muckraking, as the muck has already been well-raked, but Gibney's recounting has a touch of playful sadism that I quite enjoyed. Read full review
80
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
It's a story of jaw-dropping chutzpah, grim, mostly hindsight-based humor and more stomach-churning drama than you could find in 10 screenplays. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
To my taste the only serious distraction and ethical lapse is Gibney's sarcastic, cheap-shot use of popular songs like "That Old Black Magic," "Love for Sale," and "God Bless the Child" to underscore certain points; it seems almost to celebrate the shamelessness of the creeps being exposed. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Gives us the same sort of perverse pleasure that's been a staple of "60 Minutes" over the years -- watching world-class crooks tell world-class lies.
78
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Despite these biases, the movie helps the average American understand the nature of the shell games perpetuated by Enron and how "synergistic corruptions" can corrupt absolutely. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
It's scarier than "The Amityville Horror," as scandalous as "Fahrenheit 9/11" and loaded with more conspiracies than "The Interpreter." Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The film's most climactic moments involve the chilling audiotapes of avaricious Enron traders as they toy with California's energy crisis, wringing millions in profits from the misfortune of an entire state. Read full review
75
New York PostRussell Scott Smith
The story is fascinating, infuriating and even laugh-out-loud funny at times. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
It's a fascinating story teeming with pride, arrogance, greed and overweening hubris, and Gibney attempts to give it all an added dimension by finding the archetypes of Greek tragedy among the sleazy deals and Ponzi-scheme financing. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Well-knit, generally lucid documentary. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Surely the real story of Enron is that so many accountants, lawyers, bankers and politicians were willing to call a dog a duck in order to remain happy insiders in the world's biggest pyramid scheme. Read full review
50
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Amid the infoglut that surrounds us, Gibney's film feels too much like more noise. Is it telling the most important business story of our lifetimes, or is it just another fantastical yarn, crammed into the schedule after Scott and Laci Peterson, but before Charlemagne and the ancient Peruvian astronauts? Read full review
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