It is a performances centric movie

How sad is this?

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday MorningAfter the worldwide financial crash of 2008, as that notorious year drew to a close, another massive monetary scandal hit the headlines, in the shape of Bernie Madoff (Robert De Niro), who created a Ponzi scheme that defrauded an endless stream of investors. Speaking on the record to a journalist from prison, he recounts how it all got started, when it all went wrong and the massive impact it had on his wife Ruth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and sons Andrew (Nathan Darrow) and Mark (Alessandro Nivola), who both passed away during his incarceration.Whilst the big screens of the cinemas are clogged up with superhero franchises, and various other loud, mindless mayhem simply designed to suck cash from a loyal fan base, it's falling on online streaming services such as Netflix, or television channels like HBO to bring us weightier, more dynamic and ambitious drama, drawing in the big names along with it. Such has been the case with director Barry Levinson's portrait of Bernie Madoff, the Wall Street fat cat and living embodiment of the 'greed is good' mantra that went so grossly off course.Whilst every other form of diversity is being celebrated and pumped for maximum effect, Hollywood seems to forget that not so long ago, ageism was the number one accusation coming its way, with dozens of older stars pushed to the side lines in favour of younger talent. And so it's to his credit with this that Levinson is able to highlight was this was such a folly, as it seems to be the age and experience of the seasoned, veteran cast that make it work so well. Being the same age as lead star De Niro, the pair seem to have formulated some fine actor/director dynamic that makes it all flow smoothly. It's interesting to think how this might have worked out if it had been another De Niro collaboration with Martin Scorsese, as Madoff appears to be on familiar territory with the type of characters they've explored before, a gruff mobster type using coarse language and taking no sh!t.De Niro never loses his ability to carry a film, and here he perfectly fits the skin of this emotionally detached manipulator, who possesses the ability to destroy hundreds of lives with the coldness of a mass murderer. At the end, as he struggles to comprehend his comparison to serial killer Ted Bundy, does the realization of his persona seem to remotely dawn on him. ****

I went in very skeptical at first, although I'm a HUGE R De Niro fan. I find money movies boring and I absolutely despise the rich, so I was grimacing at the gf's choice for a TV night.Half way through I began muttering 'this guy's a sociopath...' and I was very pleased to see in the end he is all but officially declared one and compared to Ted Bundy.Many have complained about how this movie over emphasizes the impact on the Madoffs (I insist this is pronounced 'MAD-OFF' and not 'MADE- OFF'as in the movie, apparently just to make the 'he MADE OFF with people's money!' stupid joke). They are missing the point, of course, that the family is supposed to appear pathetic as they run around whining about their missed hair appointments and their possessions being seized.I'd point out that no story so far has made any attempt to explain how this guy was able to keep billions of other people's money in a single CHASE personal bank account and not make a single trade and nobody was the wiser. The movie also does not go into his extensive political donations and people in power supporting him.De Niro does an outstanding job of playing the sociopath Madoff to a tee. Strong points also to Michelle Pfeifer under a ton of old lady makeup, plays the bimbo trophy wife suddenly caught in the headlights to a tee.The movie also does not speak to the obvious elephant in the room, that the SEC is pathetic, impotent, and powerless by DESIGN, not fault, and that criminal capitalism is largely rewarded in the US.

The Wizard of Lies is an excellent Bio film and depiction of real life events. Never is the viewer lost in financial jargon as the film goes to great lengths to accurately explain the crimes Bernie Madoff committed on the American Public at large and his investors. My only problem besides the long run time of this film is that it has no choice but to paint Madoff as a sympathetic character which is much more than he deserves. A victim of his own greed the fact that he was able to defraud and scheme on his own is amazing and terrifying at the same time. It makes the viewer question our countries financial structure and institutions. If one man can alone do so much damage to an already struggling stagnant economy how could this happen? Even worst still how many like him go unrecognized? Excellent acting and dramatic conflict is presented in the wizard of lies. A film that is as educational as it is entertaining.

Great cast horrible screen play. I stayed pretty current on the Bernie Madoff disaster, this movie ignored all the facts and the real personalities. Bernie Madoff was and is a complete assh*le, he was a megalomaniac that had absolutely no regrets about destroying the financial well being of thousands of people. His children are dead now, one a suicide one died of cancer and they showed much more remorse than this ass showed. How could the makers of this movie totally ignore all the information that showed how arrogant Madoff is? I guess they were worried no one would like a movie about the real ass Madoff is.