The Crooked E (2003, 2007)

The Crooked E: The Unshredded truth about Enron is a movie that is based on a true story. It premiered in 2003 and was released on DVD in 2007. Here is some basic information about it:

** Directed by Penelope Spheeris

** Written by Steven Mazur

** Run time: 80 minutes
 
This film is a dramatized story about the last days of Enron, the giant US company that crashed in October-November-December 2001. It is based on the book Enron: Anatomy of Greed by Brian Cruver (2003). The author worked for the company for less than one year, from April to December 2001.

The cast includes the following:

** Christian Kane as Brian Cruver

** Shannon Elizabeth as Courtney (his fiancée)

** Brian Dennehy as Mr Blue

** Mike Farrell as Kenneth Lay

** John Ted Wayne as Jeff Skilling

** Natalie Brown as Amber St. Pierre (Miss April)

** Jennifer Hill as Miss August

** Cameron Bancroft as Duffy

** Jonas Chernick as Bernie Bickers (Brian’s best friend)
 
Some of these characters are real persons, such as Brian Cruver, Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling, while other characters are fictional, such as Mr Blue, Miss April and Miss August.

Neither Brian’s fiancée Courtney nor his colleague Duffy has a last name. Perhaps this surprising detail is a sign that this film is not really a serious project, even though the topic covered by the film is very serious.

The characters are thin; they have no real substance; they are like cartoons. When Brian enters Enron’s building for the first time, he is impressed by its size, as if he has never seen a huge building before. When Brian enters Mr Blue’s office for the first time, he is impressed by its size and furniture. As if he has never seen a large office with furniture before.

It gets worse: Brian is deeply impressed by the constant talk about money, so he quickly decides to buy several things he and Courtney do not really need. He buys a new car, a new watch and a new television set. With money that he has not yet earned. He is counting on future profits, just as the management of Enron did. Future profits that never arrived.

At the beginning of the movie Brian and Courtney plan a small-scale wedding with close family and friends. But when Brian starts working for Enron, he hires a professional wedding planner and plans to have a huge wedding with two or three hundreds guests. In short, he becomes a person who is hard to like, and we can guess what this does to Courtney and her feelings for him.

Sadly, this movie is filled with clichés, even though the topic that is covered is no cliché at all. There is a sharp contrast between the serious subject of the film and the superficial characters that are presented in it.

How good is this film? Perhaps I should say: how bad is this film? On IMDb it has a rating of 62 per cent. I cannot believe this figure. How can such a bad movie get such a good rating? On Amazon it has received mixed reviews, all the way from one star to five stars. This makes more sense to me.

I can relate to the negative opinions about this film. It is based on a true story, but unfortunately, it is not told very well. This film is fatally flawed, and therefore I it cannot get more than two stars.

PS # 1. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is a documentary film from 2005, released on DVD in 2007. It is based on the book The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and the Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind (2003).

PS # 2. For more information, see the following books:

** Enron: The Rise and Fall by Loren Fox (2003)

** Power failure: The Rise and Fall of Enron by Mimi Swartz with Sharron Watkins (2003)

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