Stepping away from the more serious task of covering the “Enforcement Highlights” of financial regulators, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and taking into account that we have not been able to go to the movies all summer, here, in no particular order, are five movies that touch on our industry and are definitely worth streaming to watch one more time:
- Trading Places
- The Informant!
- Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
- Wall Street
- The Wolf of Wall Street
Trading Places was released almost four decades ago, but it remains some of the best work ever done by comedy legends Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, and look for “Clarence Beeks” on the ghost payroll of the Dukes as the tipper on the orange juice futures market. In The Informant!, Matt Damon’s quirky starring role is one of his most underrated performances as a whistleblower. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is considered one of the best documentaries ever made. For the two Wall Street movies on the list and the actors playing the scoundrels in the leading roles: Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated, and Michael Douglas took home the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. Being a scoundrel pays — at the Oscars.
Whether these movies refresh your recollection of great performances and scenes or give you a smile and make you laugh, we hope that you enjoy an “at the movies” escape while spending so much time at home during these trying times.
There are, of course, several other great movies to include on a list like this, so we will follow-up with additional movie suggestions as we move through autumn and get closer to the holiday season.