Schatz87 I was somewhat surprised by this biopic, since I'm well-acquainted with the modern Ponzi scheme story and $65 Billion ripoff committed by private investment firm. But even for those familiar with the general story, the documentary provides a fascinating portrait of the Madoff family and the central characters. Overall it reminds me of an epic Greek tragedy.The principal crime committed by Bernie Madoff is clearcut. In essence Madoff run a hedge fund that were one big hoax based on a pyramid investment scheme. All ROIs were fictitious and existing investors were paid by the money provided by subsequent investors. Aside from defrauding rich individuals of European royalty, Madoff took advantage of the fact that he as a jewish investor had excellent contacts to other wealthy American jews, which allowed him to swindle countless of the latter of all their retirement savings. All in all, in the end it led to countless tragedies and suicides on both continents.The financial thriller behind it has been well-told by previous accounts, particularly 'No One Would Listen' by Harry Markopolos (i.e. the financial analyst struggled to expose the fraud for many years). It's also true that the ramifications would have been much more limited if the SEC would have done their job properly.However, what this biopic does is following Bernie Madoff and the effects of the exposure on his own family, i.e. particularly his wife Ruth and his two adult sons. It seems as his family was completely unaware of the fraud and the movie does a good job in explaining how his sons never got the information from their dominating father. Later, when it all blew up the fraud also wreaked havoc on the lives of his wife and sons.In the end, it was all for nothing. The family members would lived longer and happier lives without massive fraud committed by the Bernard. While the portrait of him is by no means completely unsympathetic, he remains seemingly oblivious even to this day to the devastation he caused in so many lives, including to those nearest to him.The main roles played by Robert de Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer are brilliant, but also the less-known actors playing his two sons.

adonis98-743-186503 A chronicle of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, which defrauded his clients of billions of dollars. The Wizard of Lies packs a dark but also captivating performance by Robert De Niro who shines as Bernie Madoff also it's more than welcome seeing the great Michelle Pfeiffer acting again since 2013's The Family who starred again next to De Niro. The film is based on true events about something that i didn't know honestly and it's good seeing it been translated it on the small screen with a talented cast and wonderful performances from the entire cast. Personally i found the allegations against Madoff quite extreme? I mean common 150 years in prison? which is 1800 weeks? When at the same time are rapists, murderers and psychopaths that are 50 times worse than Madoff but i guess that's how the system works. What Madoff did was bad and wrong but thanks to the great performances by De Niro and Pfeiffer i actually felt a bit bad about their family and the tragedy that happened to their sons. As for flaws with the film? i think it was definitely the run time since there are scenes that weren't that interesting or even important that were needed to be explored but overall The Wizard of Lies is a nice comeback from De Niro after some really terrible movie choices and a welcome return for Pfeiffer as well. (8/10)

Joetampa90 Finally De Niro takes a break from hack comedies and mailed in roles for direct to red box garbage films! He delivers his best performance since "Jackie Browne" here as real life super villain Bernie Madoff. The movie itself is a long winded and sometimes trudging look at Madoff's life beginning when he comes clean as essentially a scam artist. De Niro transforms into the ultra rich and short tempered Bernie masterfully. I'm happy to see this after years of writing him off as a guy who'd lost his touch and just does it for the money. This is especially important to see with his upcoming reunion with Pesci and Scorsese in "The Irishman" looming.As a film I'd say this work gets the job done and serves its purpose well. Veteran workman director Barry Levinson who's three plus decade catalog includes all sorts of movies has made a pretty good movie here, possibly one of his best ever? It does not really wow you in anyway but it's also by no means bad. I especially enjoyed the scene in which Bernie attempts suicide with his wife and ends up hallucinating. The Wizard of Lies gets a 7 out of 10 which on my scale makes it a "good" movie, but it surely falls short of greatness with it's mostly straight forward and often dragging delivery.

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