Madoff

For a movie about Madoff the main thing is the story has to be linear, non confusing and thorough and this 2 part miniseries succeeds. It introduces enough characters one by one to show the major players in the scandal, how the business duped clients and how it came crashing down. It isn't too complicated so non finance people can roughly understand what happens. Madoff is made to be the narrator of the movie and it helps to make things clear. Victims, clients, whistle blowers, the SEC dropping the ball, and the perpetrators in Madoff's company are all shown. The look at what happened in Madoff's own family is quite fascinating. His wife kids brother niece are all shown to be unknowing victims. The tragic suicide of his son Mark is quite moving. Would have liked a bit more about the recovery of the stolen money at the end.

The acting is fine. With so much going on in the story the main thing is that they should resemble the real people sufficiently. Richard Dreyfuss looks enough like Madoff and his benign slightly jovial approach actually is quite right. It keeps things flowing and not too depressing. Blythe Danner is physically suited to the role of Ruth. The actors who play his sons are don't look like them much - not great casting there. The supporting cast are good too especially those who play his staff.

Will be interesting to compare to to the upcoming HBO movie with Robert DeNiro as Madoff.

There was a follow up ABC documentary with interviews called "Bernie Madoff after the fall" that aired after the end of part 2 that is worth watching.

Out of all of the great TV shows, mini series and TV movies this year, this has got to be the best one this year bar none, Richard dreyfuss in one of the best performances since the goodbye girl back in the 70's, where he won a Oscar for that role, plays Bernie Madoff a man who was sentence to 150 years in prison for tax for running a Ponzi scheme, the teleplay is one of the best teleplays in recent TV history and the performances are all wonderful as always, the writing is crisp, the pacing is great and the editing is marvelous, it's a shame that he wasn't nominated for a emmy for his whole, because he should have been, nevertheless this is definitely the best TV of 2016 bar none I give it my highest rating A+

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.

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!

I was so pleased to hear that the A List actor Richard Dreyfuss (American Graffiti, Jaws, and The Goodbye Girl) signed on to play the U.S.A.'s biggest investment fraudster, the Ponzi scheme master, Bernie Madoff. From the beginning of the biographical film, Richard Dreyfuss narrates the Bernie Madoff biography and he walks us through his "modus operandi" how he conned so many smart and wealthy investors starting in 1960 when his accountant father-in-law introduces a young Bernie Madoff to his own circle of clients, as well as many elderly people who entrusted Bernie Madoff with their life savings.

Bernie's method of convincing investors to continue investing with him was to tell his clients that he was prepared to immediately cut them a cheque for their entire investment plus interest but then they would not be allowed to invest with him again. Madoff had his brother, wife and sons working in his firm and as the story progresses we really are left to wonder whether or not they knew anything about the Ponzi scheme, or did they just believe in Bernie Madoff the investment guru, who was their husband, father or brother.

Also agreeing to play in this non-sanctioned autobiography film "Madoff" are Blythe Danner as Bernie's wife, Peter Scolari as Bernie's brother Peter, Michael Rispoli as the behind the scenes book fixer, Charles Grodin as Carl Shapiro, Frank Whaley as a competitive broker named Harry Markopolos who figures out Bernie's secret method which is simply a fraud. Richard Dreyfuss's real life son Ben Dreyfuss plays the younger Bernie Madoff which makes it easier to believe the evolution of Bernie Madoff over the decades.

Slowly the film peels away each layer of skin one by one, on this onion and we get to see the real Bernie Madoff as the scammer that he really is and then how the S.E.C. (Securities and Exchange Commissions) closes in on him to eventually stop the bleeding and the U.S.A.'s biggest Ponzi scheme. Since the film was originally released as a two part story and it was deluged with commercial breaks I look forward to purchasing the DVD version and watching the film the way it should be seen, without any commercial breaks.

It is an excellent film with great insight into how easily thousands of investors were scammed for decades as long as the return on investments continued to be high and as Bernie would say "we need to continue to grow and find new investors". I give the film two thumbs up. Definitely worth investing your movie viewing time in, but not your money with Bernie Madoff who will remain in prison for his 150 year sentence.