Madoff (2016)

Must See Movie...

Absolutely brilliant

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is by far the best production, documentaries included, of the Madoff story. The script was excellent. The information and plot are easy to follow without being weighed down by boring financial specifics. The major players are represented well and the acting is superb. Dreyfuss, Danner, and Rispoli make De Niro, Pfeiffer, and Azaria look like amateurs! I enjoyed the miniseries so much that I wish there were more episodes!

Richard Dreyfuss gives a terrific performance as investment con man Bernie Madoff. He's an interesting character, dishonest to the core yet loyal and generous to his friends, although it's unclear whether he was genuinely generous or just interesting in keeping people loyal.It's fascinating to see the long con and how it unravels, and infuriating and disturbing to watch a lone crusader spend fruitless years trying to convince an inept SEC to investigate one of the great financial criminal.The great weakness of the film is that it overly focuses on Madoff's family, including an ungraceful attempt to use his family history of cancer as a symbol.I understand wanting to show how Madoff's actions hurt his family, and the actors are fine, particularly Blythe Danner (still, surprisingly, sexy in her 70s), but what Madoff did hurt so many more people than his family, and while that is shown, it is overshadowed by the rather dull family stuff.I feel the movie should have focused more on the crusader, or on the incompetence of the SEC. Or it could have just been pared down in length.Still, it's a fascinating story and Dreyfuss is a perfect Madoff.

More screen time needed to be given to the victims in this tale of embezzlement via the Ponzi scheme method.Richard Dreyfuss give wonderful performances as Bernie and Ruthie Madoff. While they're living the life of glamor, there is something about them that even when the good times prevailed, they were down to earth. Danner often comes across of the Jewish wife seeking status with that drink in her hand.Madoff could have probably continued to get away with defrauding so many investors had it not been for the economic downturn of 2008.The first part of the show would have required a degree in advanced economics from the viewers. Quantitative analysis is not exactly the most exciting thing to show on screen.Other than those dedicated investors who lost their shirts from Bernie, the family suffered a great deal as well as shown.

An interesting story based on Bernie Madoff the so called wizard of Wall Street, well played by the entire cast, and informative of what people are willing to do acquiring your money, Madoff may have started out simply trying to impress his friends and family as they stated he had it all before the Ponzi affair, so either he did it and it spun out of control or he became wrapped up in the illusion of his vain wizardry, maybe both, in either case its sad people become so wrapped up and taken so easily by money, never satisfied with what they got, and need something to fill their void of unhappiness, don't pity the poor man, pity the fool, and delusional wizards, the domino effect of the fallout was a atrocity to all the victims, hopefully a lesson to save others in the Madoff's of the future.