The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron (2003) (TV)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Penelope Spheeris

Writers (WGA):

Brian Cruver (book)
Stephen Mazur (teleplay)

Release Date:

5 January 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The Rich Got Richer, The Rest Lost Everything.

Plot:

The rise and fall of the Enron company, as seen from the perspective of employee Brian Cruver, based on his book.

Plot Keywords:

Enron | Greed | Tube Top | Evil Corporation | Red Dress

Cast

Christian Kane	...	Brian Cruver
Shannon Elizabeth	...	Courtney
Cameron Bancroft	...	Duffy
Nancy Anne Sakovich	...	Liz Perry (as Nancy Sakovich)
Natalie Brown	...	Amber St. Pierre (Miss April)
Aleks Paunovic	...	Lazarri
Jonathan Higgins	...	Greg McLainey
Mike Farrell	...	Kenneth Lay
Brian Dennehy	...	Mr. Blue
Jon Ted Wynne	...	Jeff Skilling
Paul Christie	...	Andrew Tillman
Tom Keenan	...	Allen Flemming
Larissa Gomes	...	Anna-Marie
Jennifer Hill	...	Miss August
Steve Ratzlaff	...	Welling (as Steven Ratzlaff)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Hotel Fort Garry, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Company:

Robert Greenwald Productions

Quotes:

Mr. Blue: We're the bad guy. We're the criminals. And don't think it's just this company. There's hundreds of Enrons out there, a thousand, cooking the books, inflating the earnings, hiding the debt, buying off the watchdogs.

Soundtrack:

More Than I Deserve

Sad But True Story of Corporate Greed Run Wild

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.