52
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanJeff Prosserman's riveting documentary takes a question that haunted the Bernie Madoff scandal - how did he fool everyone for so long? - and answers it with a decisive "He didn't."
- 70The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttThe Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttIn a sense, this is not a financial thriller so much as a financial mystery. Which gets a bit lost in the movie's stylized presentation.
- 70NPRElla TaylorNPRElla TaylorHis sorry tale is worth re-telling, if only to piece together the connective tissue between government, big business and, to a lesser degree, the media institutions that propped up what most insiders knew or suspected was a massive fraud for years before Madoff got his comeuppance.
- 50Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisChasing Madoff is mostly that sort of movie, the kind you make when all you've seen is other movies and television shows about crime, when you want someone to know what you can do with a juicy story that takes some effort to ruin.
- 50Washington PostWashington PostDirector Jeff Prosserman's retelling borders on reprehensible, as he attempts to heighten an already powerful tale with a parade of needless bells and whistles, from flashy camera work to melodramatic reenactments. What a shame, because the story is truly astonishing.
- 50Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleLos Angeles TimesRobert AbeleThe unintended take-away is that you can grasp why the Securities and Exchange Commission - terribly negligent though it was in investigating Madoff - might dismiss the claims of someone so theatrically odd.
- The film is frustratingly uneven in its presentation.
- 40Village VoiceVillage VoiceToo bad Prosserman can't trust his material: Overloading the screen with aesthetic dross, the director offers up tiresome symbolic imagery of blood-soaked hands, burning money, and out-of-focus documents. Rather than amping up the intensity, these fast-cut sequences prove disastrously distracting.
- 38Slant MagazineNick SchagerSlant MagazineNick SchagerThe fawning personal-life segments are overdone, and undermine the film's compelling reportage about Madoff's ruse and downfall.