Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Gibney's film never forgets the human side: the macho execs nearly killing themselves on boys' vacations with motorbikes, sky-diving and general risk-enhanced bonding; the suicide of one, the scapegoat imprisonment of another.

... Enron: the smartest guys in the room pinpoints a moment when corporate morality was shredded like so many tonnes of incriminating documents in a big business run by small, small men.

Audiences jeered and shouted at the screen in outrage. It has that kind of impact, without resorting to any of Michael Moore's below-the-belt tactics.

Alex Gibney takes a notorious tale of corporate greed and plays it as Greek tragedy, Texas-style.

A meticulously researched and ably handled chronicle of one of the largest corporate scandals in American history.

In addition to being one of the most talented documentarian filmmakers alive, Mr. Gibney was also wise enough to recognize there was no need for dramatic or comedic overcooked embellishment here.

This essential documentary skillfully maps out the shady "mark to market" accounting device that the men who called themselves "the smartest guys in the room" used to commit corporate fraud on a colossal scale.

A fun and demoralizing roller-coaster ride that will whet appetites for the Lay and Skilling debut in court as The Most Nervous Guys in the Room.