User reviews

This documentary explores very interesting aspects of what went on behind the curtains while the massive Bernie Madoff's scheme developed, expanded and ultimately collapsed.

However, the documentary wastes the potential by using a very weak and wacky personal storyline anchor, which becomes repetitive and ultimately annoying after one of the main subjects starts putting out his paranoia for the n-th time.

The end result is a clumsy piece that bumps from a few high moment between a repetitive cycle of self-pity, delusion and confused thoughts of a man that slide into it after not seeing any results from his push to expose a major fraud in the making.

The basic story was ripe for an excellent documentary. It was about how a small group of people tried warning others about Madoff. They failed, but not for lack of trying, and good for them for trying.

However, the documentary itself is far too dramatic. After awhile it was tiring to hear the small group tout itself as being extraordinarily brave. The main guy who stuck with it ended up looking as disturbed as Madoff--living in a paranoid fantasy world where his family was in constant danger.

It runs about an hour and a half. It would have been a very good 50-minute documentary. But it drags on and on, often not getting anywhere.

Too bad. It had a real story to tell.

Also missing is any investigative reporting, after the fact, about why the people who were alerted (looking at you SEC, Wall Street Journal) didn't act? We still don't know why from this documentary.

It is a very good documentary. I would have given it a higher score, but there was way too much of the makopolis guy. His personality is like nails on a chalkboard. There was no need to interview his parents. I don't care that he was a good baby, or about any part of his bio/cv. His clear self-absorption and whiny voice assuming Madoff was out to kill him so he was forced to hunker down was ridiculous. The rest of the interviewees were fine, using their experience to tell the story from their perspective. The Madoff saga is a fascinating tale of what happens when rich people try to get richer.

I don't understand the low marks for this film. It's a lively, fascinating telling of the Madoff tale, or rather, the two Madoff tales -- one about what he did and how he got caught, the other about how the people he did it to tried to protect him.

It's refreshing to see everyday people working in finance, and even more impressive to see them exercising values like sacrifice, courage, and the rule of law. Maybe the film is 10 minutes too long, but that's a small price to pay for this story.

If you're looking for an action film, rent 'Let the Bullets Fly.' If you're looking for an entertaining overview of the largest financial fraud in history, and its relevance for the rest of us, this is your documentary.

There have been many documentary shows about Madoff. It's a fascinating and horrifying story. But this example resembles a low budget episode of a "crooks and grifters" TV reality show. Obviously, video of Madoffs early career is rare. But the producers fill the void with stock shots, clips from old time movies and inserts that are clearly meant to provide something to watch as the narrator drones on. And to keep things interesting they rely on every cinematic bromide that their computer can manage: inserts with the edges out of focus, sepia toned clips to simulate "vintage" material and flicker-frame montages that repeat the same pointless visuals over and over and over. Its a 40 minute TV show inflated to feature length. Frontline, BBC and others have covered this material better. And the video is well laced with sobbing investors, folks rich enough to interest Madoff with their millions, yet foolish and careless enough to have blindly put all their nest eggs in the same basket. They claim over and over that they have "lost everything" when it is well known that the investors did get a substantial portion of their money back. The Frontline Madoff Affair is a much better watch.

Absolute debauchery with a totally dated perspective. One of the biggest scandals that dictated part of the zeitgeist of the early 2000's and the director saw it through an amateur 1990's lens. Corny, overdone and trying way too hard - a 16 year old with an iphone could've made a better film. Jeff Prosserman's choices in everything from the cliché camera angles, over-dramatized music composition, corny stock footage (obviously used to fill in missing holes) are clear indicators that yet again, we have another overgrown kid playing with daddy's money. I can only imagine the grueling process the EP's & crew had to bear to get this thing made. It's amazing how these movies get made without anybody saying, "Wait, really? We're putting this out there??" and how much money goes down the drain while doing so. Mainly though, I wish Prosserman could give me my wasted 90 minutes back.

It's a shame that this doc doesn't work because the subject matter of this movie is extremely timely, important and interesting. But, ultimately, the tone of this film is so uneven and the talking heads become so redundant that it becomes unbearable to watch by the end. It's basically two hours of people saying "NOBODY LISTENED" over and over and over again.

It doesn't help that the protagonist comes off as an absolute loon, and his ongoing paranoia seems ridiculous. Maybe that's not the filmmakers' fault. But if that isn't their fault, they are to blame for sticking a maudlin, "this guy is a true hero" bit at the end that is laughable to the audience after hearing his paranoid gibberish for the previous half an hour.

Read the other reviews. There, you will find two schools of thought; those who rate this documentary ***very*** highly and those who rate is ***very*** poorly. What's going on ? This is, I believe, a microcosm of the United States today where simplistic ideology rules Washington. On one hand, you will find those who argue that more regulation is needed and, on the other hand, those who argue that less regulation is the cure because the bureaucrats in Washington are unable to regulate competently. The facts are that if your local firemen are incompetent, the solution is NOT to eliminate fire-fighters, as some right-wingers argue, but to insure that they are competent. The solution is also NOT to increase the number of firemen, as some left-wingers argue. Essentially, this documentary argues not from the viewpoint of Bernie Madoff's evil, but from the viewpoint of the incompetence of Washington bureaucrats. THAT is the truth.

Never have I seen a film misdirected so well. Director Jeff Prosserman's comedy staring buffoon Harry Markopolos draws influence from Tommy Wiseau's THE ROOM. Why was Prosserman's vision not assessed by functioning adults? This film is indicative of everything wrong in documentary filmmaking today. Personally I was sad to have witnessed such a cinematic holocaust. Don't waste your time! Prosserman clearly has no idea what he's doing. If you look at Prosserman's previous work you'll find similar reviews. Emblematic of Canadian cinema, Chasing Madoff fails to meet the sufficient requirements to entertain an audience. If you're into watching films where the director has no clue where he is, what's going on or what he's doing, this film is right up your alley.

As massive as the scheme was, so massive is the greatness of this documentary! Anyone who wondered about what happened will be informed, educated, amazed, and mind-blown! The saddest part was near the end when Markopolos and the other whistle blowers realized that the scheme hurt so many "common" people, not just the big guys. When you analyze things, you realize that the world economy is based on TRUST... in each other in our personal transactions, in businesses, institutions, and government and when that trust is to VILELY violated, the entire system suffers. Rebuilding that trust in the aftermath will take many careful years. But it is both ironic and somewhat self-satisfying to know that ultimately the scheme was blown by the pressures of the market itself. Markopolos and all of us must stand firm in the faith of the FREE AND OPEN marketplace to weed out the evil and corrupt. This documentary is a MUST SEE!

The story of Bernie Madoff is well known; the biggest Ponzie-scheme ever! Less well known is how Madoff was de-cloaked. Chasing Madoff tells this story, but not in a very well executed way. The speed of the movie is more like a MTV-clip than a documentary. And I found this distracting. Also quit a lot of the time the movie constitutes of people telling how good they themselves were in catching Madoff. With all due respect for the people who brought Madoff to justice; I would have enjoyed it much more if the story was told at a slower pace and if at had been a story about the hunters. All The Presidents Men is an great example what could have been....

I've watched the De Niro and Dreyfuss movies a couple of times each and like them. As entertainment, Dreyfuss is better, but both are well made films, well directed, well acted. They hit the right notes for movie buffs.

But both of those movies miss the point. The point isn't that Bernie Madoff was a swindler. That's a boring story. Madoff started out selling penny stocks and in the end he was never much more than a penny-stock putz. Sure he may have been chairman of NASDAQ at one point, but if you're under the impression that putzes aren't running the world, well, God bless you.

No the permanently interesting story of the Madoff scandal is the same as the story of the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos scandal: how they got away with it, how the people who should have known better, didn't, in fact, the folks who should have known better actively enabled the fraudsters. This movie gets that part of the story right: It's a story about the SEC. It should be clear now that the people in Washington and elsewhere who are supposed to be protecting the American people, aren't. They aren't even trying hard. And when they fail, OTHER PEOPLE's lives are destroyed but they keep getting promoted, or they move to even better-paying jobs outside government.

Warning: Watch this film after watching The Big Short and you may be inclined to cash in your retirement funds and put the money into something safe and solid like Bitcoin. (Just kidding.)

I'm not a cynic. This is just how it is, and this movie certainly demonstrates that.

Now about the other aspects of this movie: It should have been a one-hour show. Too much about Markopolos' anxieties about the danger he might be in. I'm willing to say that he was not being unreasonable. But in retrospect, he was NOT killed or assaulted, and that part of the story -- the personal and emotional effect of being a Cassandra -- is real, but can't be appreciated by any of us.

Markopolos is right: He's NOT a hero. He was a Cassandra. And Cassandra wasn't a hero. She was a prophet that no one listened to.

Based on the Book by Harry Markopolos "No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller", the Story of an Intense Investigation of Bernie Madoff trying to find out if Fraud was being Perpetrated on the Public by Madoff in a "Ponzi Scheme" or was it all some kind of Super-Genius at Work.

The Book could and should have been Titled…"No One Cared"...because They did Listen but more Importantly didn't care. Probably because Someone, if not Everyone was either told "Not to Care" or because Someone and more probably Everyone was...wait for it...MAKING MONEY.

The Security Exchange Commission (SEC) Higher Ups, and, as We are told, Madoff created an Octopus Monster with Tentacles reaching all over the World and its reach was not only Wide but High, sometimes Sliming its way to the Top of the Global Pyramid.

No Wonder "No One Would Listen", or more Accurately No One Cared. Even Most if Not Some of the Madoff Investors, especially those involved in Finance, knew for a Probability if Not a Certainty that something wasn't "Right/Legal". But the Gravy Boat was Rolling so why Rock it.

The Documentary is a High-Style entry in the many Expanded News Stories and Examinations done since Bernie Madoff turned Himself in (to avoid assassination). In this one the Focus is On Markopolos and Associates reliving "Their" Story. It's Glossy and includes Glitzy Dramatizations and Over the Top Archival Footage to Enhance the Entertainment Value.

Those that want "Just the Facts, thank You Mam", might Find this a bit too Self-Conscious and at times Silly. There are other Products out there that are Straight Documentaries. This one is Far From Straight. It makes its Point with Paraded Out Footage from Gangster Newsreels and even Movies.

Maybe too Fluffy for Some, but this Documentary is made for the Masses and tries to the Extreme to be "A Financial Thriller". It somewhat Succeeds, but is not going to Please Everyone like Madoff Did...Until He Didn't.

There seems to be a lot of polarity about this film. People seem to either love it or hate it. I don't get this. People who make investments are relatively well off. You can't invest with Bernie Madoff in an IRA or a 401(k), so we are talking about people that have money to invest beyond an IRA or a 401(k). We are talking about rich people. People with millions and millions of dollars that they don't know what to do with. These people need to be PROTECTED from the actions of the likes of Bernie Madoff. That's right. Rich people need -the government- to protect them from the being ripped off. Yes, even liberals, or people that you think are liberals, can see that rich people need to be treated fairly.

Read works of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Gore Vidal. Then, if you comprehend, you will understand the quality and appropriateness of this documentary. I live near Boston, and therefore understand the culture Harry Markopolos grew up under. Why some citizens get it, and some don't is exactly the problem with education in the US. Study linguistics. Read or listen to the book Manufacturing Consent for a good education on what controls your thinking. Ask why did the SEC not act upon this? The specialized class has us all under a tractor beam - if you chose to do nothing. This is not new information in any way. You just may have missed it when it was first published. Thank you!