Interesteg What makes it different from others?

2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!

Tetrady not as good as all the hype

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

SnoopyStyle Bernie Madoff (Robert De Niro) is being interview by writer Diana Henriques whose book on which this movie is based. The respected legend of Wall Street is in prison for the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. The other protagonists are his wife Ruth (Michelle Pfeiffer) and their two sons, Andrew and Mark.This is a HBO film from legendary director Barry Levinson. It doesn't really expand on the plot or the scam. It's more of a character piece for the family. I really like the father son relationships. It would be great to make this a Mark Madoff movie. De Niro is solid as an unrepentant Bernie. Pfeiffer is doing a version of Ruth which gets a little bothersome. She's whiny and plays herself as a victim but not in a fun way. The movie needs some fun and she would be good for that. In the end, the acting is solid. There is some sympathetic takes on the Madoff sons. There are other better takes on the Madoff scandal but this one is pretty good.

The Couchpotatoes If you want to know more about the biggest fraud that ever happened in the USA then The Wizard Of Lies is the movie to watch. The life of Bernie Madoff is not really a thing I'm interested in but I guess for other people it might be interesting. The movie and the acting is not bad. Certainly not the acting with a great cast. Robert de Niro can play anything. But if you're like me and you could not care less about superrich people losing money by trying to get even more money then it might be a bit boring. There is a law for the rich and there is a law for the poor, this movie prooves it again. The Wizard Of Lies is to me just good to watch once, except if you like that kind of stories than you will like it more then I did.

lavatch In "The Godfather," it is clear that the sons of Don Vito Corleone are brought into the secret life of the family crime syndicate with the purpose of sustaining the "business" of racketeering, bookmaking, prostitution, and other illegal activities. The problem in "The Wizard of Lies" is in trying to create a film about the crooked investment swindler Bernard "Bernie" Madoff who kept his sons out of the loop in his criminal shenanigans. The film struggles to figure out how much responsibility belongs to the two sons and the brother of Madoff. In the end, nothing was resolved about the degree of the other family members' guilt or innocence from the crooked family business. The result was a film with long stretches of boring interviews and melodramatic conversations within the Madoff family. The demeaning portrayal of the women family members was problematic. With so many digressions into family matters, the filmmakers lose track of the main issue of how Bernie Madoff could have possibly executed such a fantastic money-making scam without detection from the authorities. In one of the better lines of dialogue in the film, Bernie Madoff's success in cozening his clients was described as "matter of fact." Unfortunately, Madoff's matter-of-factness does not make for much of an exciting drama.In the bonus interviews in the DVD version of the film, actor Robert De Niro called the story of Bernie Madoff "Shakespearean" in scope. But Shakespeare's larger-than-life tragic characters have multi-dimensional motivation to their actions, whereas "The Wizard of Lies" has only one: a business predator's skill in duping his clients and the government.With regard to the government, the filmmakers missed a golden opportunity when they failed to explore in greater detail the lapses on the part of the regulatory agencies that permitted Madoff to complete his phony transactions over many years. This point is touched on early in the film, then dropped. The long scenes with the wife and family members dragged on endlessly, resulting in a sluggish pace that strung the audience along for more than two hours.The only reason to see the film is De Niro's successful embodiment of Bernie Madoff. In the bonus segment, director Barry Levinson identified De Niro's ability "to pull you into the character." Indeed, this was the case, and Levinson assisted De Niro with some excellent work with close-ups, especially the emotionless, fixed gaze of Madoff's unblinking eyes. But when De Niro was not on camera, the bottom dropped out of the film with the mindless scenes with business associates and the family members. This "true story" drama lacked the spark of such dynamic family members as Sonny, Tom, Fredo, and Michael to complement their loving but ruthless father in an epic story about greed and the failure of the American Dream.

FilmBuff1994 The Wizard of Lies is a great television movie with a very well developed plot and a stellar cast. It's a very bleak drama that can be difficult to watch at times, there is really no light at the end of the tunnel here. The actions of Bernie Madoff were inhuman and completely inexcusable, and this film does not try to sugarcoat that in any way. I never read too much in to it and was pleased with how in depth and easy to follow this all was, you do not need to know anything about the events prior to watching this movie. There really is no character to route for here, which, while it is understandable, is still one of the only majors issues I had. Madoff is, of course, the main character, who we can not possibly sympathise with, and even his wife Ruth and other close friends and relatives are not depicted with any noble traits. While it did not take me out of the movie, it just made me somewhat discomforted watching two hours of several characters I was not routing for. The cast is tremendous, Robert De Niro delivers one of his greatest performances in years, portraying outstanding depth and characterisation to Madoff. While it could not possibly have been an easy role to take on, he made it look simple. Michelle Pfeiffer is also excellent as Ruth Madoff, a very layered performance, her screen presence in this part was undeniable and whenever she left, I just wanted to see more of her. It is a discomforting drama that I enjoyed every moment of. An engaging plot and perfect casting, I would recommend The Wizard of Lies to anyone looking for a good drama. Chronicles the life of Bernie Madoff following the announcement of his Ponzi scheme that put his clients in billions of dollars in dept. Best Performance: Robert De Niro