The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron

This movie is a decently entertaining depiction of the fall of Enron, which was one of our nation's leading companies. It's based on the point of view of a recent University of Texas MBA grad, who gets hired in the bankruptcy division of Enron. For people who didn't follow the scandal, the movie does a solid job of illustrating why greed led to Enron's demise. With shareholders and upper management demanding better numbers (and thus better stock value), everyone was under pressure to cook the books.

There is some comedy in the movie (the Arthur Anderson audit team is always playing nerf basketball or computer golf; one of the characters gets a job at Worldcom after being laid off at Enron). However, being a TV movie, there is not much time for character depth. Did anyone really feel for the woman who lost her college savings in Enron stock? Also, I understand the producers were looking for star power, but Shannon Elizabeth did not belong in this movie. She is far too pretty to be playing a down-to-earth farm girl who hates the glamorous life her fiance brings her. Overall, this is a watch able movie for those that are interested in business.

I had heard so much about the Enron scandel and was interested to see the movie about the in depth scandel of this crooked company that put money abouve the welfare of human beings.

The true story is itself an utter outrage and watching the movie I felt it did capture, at least the feeling of what it was like to be an enron employee and it also managed to convey the idealistic dreams so many had going into the company. It is HARD for me to review this movie for the very reason that I just don't know how accurate and true to life it was. I never worked for Enron or knew anyone who did but I have known people who were motivated by little more then greed in life-still I don't know why there was a love story gone wrong plot going on as well, I don't even know if the main character in this movie actually existed.

And though the movie did show a typical working day in an Enron employee's life I would have liked it to go into more depth about the ramifications of what happened and how it effected so manys' lives in really tragic ways. Of coarse we all know the story but I'd perhaps have liked to see interviews with REAL Enron employees, these incredible people who put so much of their lives into their work and were hurt so badly by individuals whose only motive was money. It is sad, it is tragic and even though I'm not sure about the accuracy of anything about the movie, it was so fast paced and involving, my attention WAS held almost automatically by the movie in general(it's the only movie I've seen on the Enron scandel and it keeps you watching). But I still think some things should have been different and rather then this one guy's relationship with his wife, the movie should have had real life interviews. The movie touched me but something tells me the real life ramifications of the Enron scandel were about quintuple what the movie showed. I would also have liked to have seen what the law was doing to punish the people responsible for this and how some of the people who lost so much were doing now.

They probably needed better promo for this movie that made it a bit more clear, that it is a movie about the true life story of Brian Culver, not an overall story about what happened at Enron.

This is from the point of view of one and his experience in the company. I am sure there was much more to his story that could not be fit into the time frome of the length of a movie.

"Anatomy of Greed" (2002) You may want to check it out!

I went into thinking I wasn't going to like it. I wasn't interested in what happened at Enron, but I am a #Kaniac= fan of Christian Kane, so I gave it watch!!

I enjoyed it more than expected! Love Brian Dennehy as well!.

This movie may be a little slow going for people of today (2024) So folks need to take that into consideration when viewing, that it was made in 2003 and the story is based around one man!

Christian Kane as always rocked his role! I highly recommend it!

The Crooked E, The Unshredded Truth About Enron, was based on the true story of an Enron employee, Brian Cruver, the ink hardly dry on his MBA when he came to work for the self-proclaimed "greatest company in the world." He starts out as a wide-eyed innocent and soon becomes seduced by "the dark side of the force," becoming arrogant, deceptive, and greedy, buying a Lexus convertible, a $700 raincoat, and planning a $60,000 wedding, much to the dismay of his down-to-earth fiancee, who eventually leaves him. But as he begins to realize just what is happening there, he quickly becomes disillusioned and, by the time the company has gone belly-up, he has regained his integrity (to the point of destroying a contract that would have badly hurt the client) and his fiancee. This, incidentally, is a departure from the book, as Cruver marries about two months into his short stay at Enron.

Christian Kane has the momentous job of playing Cruver, as he appears in every scene except for a prologue which shows him as a child with "Mr. Blue," Brian Dennehey. He also does the narration and has a brief song while driving his new Lexus. And he does it all with dash and aplomb. If this very handsome, talented young actor, whom the camera loves, is not a superstar in the next couple of years, there is something radically wrong. Tony winner Dennehey is outstanding as an employee with a sad story to tell, and Mike Farrell presents Ken Lay as either an eternal optimist or a bald-faced liar or some of both.

I hope this will eventually come out on video or DVD as it's a keeper.

This movie was a true tale of the rise and fall of one of the top ten companies in the world. The reason for the fall? None other than GREED. The story is told through the eyes of a former employee who had first had info in the dealing. This movie had several great actor in it from Brian Denny to Shannon Elizabeth who role of an Enron Mans woman is the best she done to date. The role of salesman was played by upstart actor Anthony Hibbs and was a true testament to how sales should be done. The entire movie goes into great detail to how the plan was executed and how it fell apart. This movie is a true must see!