The Wizard of Lies

TV Movie
2017
TV-MA
2h 13m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

30K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer0:31

Biography Crime Drama Financial Drama

The fall of Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme robbed $65 billion from unsuspecting victims; the largest fraud in U.S. history.The fall of Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme robbed $65 billion from unsuspecting victims; the largest fraud in U.S. history.The fall of Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme robbed $65 billion from unsuspecting victims; the largest fraud in U.S. history.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

30K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

2,376

156

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys
- 4 wins & 20 nominations total

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Photos82

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Madoff: Le monstre de la finance

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Conspiration

7.4

Citoyen X

7.5

Becoming Warren Buffett

7.4

Game Change

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Sur le chemin de la guerre

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Phil Spector

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Diana Henriques was the first to interview Bernie Madoff on August 24, 2010, after his incarceration on June 29, 2009. She plays herself in various scenes throughout this movie interviewing Madoff (Robert De Niro). She has said that the resemblance was so uncanny, she got goosebumps just sitting opposite him.

Goofs
When Mark Madoff's wife checks her phone the morning of his suicide, she has 4 messages from him. She opens the first two, which are dated December 11, 2010. However, the screen showing the list of text messages has all 4 of them dated 9/30/2015.

Quotes
[last lines]
Bernie Madoff: Let me ask you a question. Do you think I'm a sociopath?

Connections
Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Tina Fey/Alessandro Nivola/Dirty Projectors feat. DAWN (2017)

Soundtracks
Winter Wonderland
Written by Richard B. Smith (as Dick Smith), Felix Bernard
Performed by Mitch Miller
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User reviews85

Featured review

6/10

I wanted more

I wanted more, more of how Bernie Madoff became the man we meet in this film. When we meet him he is already rotten. He is mere months away from his arrest.

There is in Robert DeNiro's portrayal little or nothing to like or empathize with. Or care about. What we have is a true sociopath who is found out early in the film, which forces us to see nothing but the devastation left in his wake.

This is my way of saying there is no story arc. There are no surprises. What flashbacks there are show Madoff in his personal life but always at his worst.

Michelle Pheiffer as Madoff's wife has a small rand unconvincing role. And like her husband, I couldn't care less about her fate. As for the Madoff sons, to some degree this is more their story than anyone else's. And to the degree that I learned quite a bit about them, the film deserves credit.

But that is not enough to warrant its viewing.