29 Best Movies About Money: List of Films With High Ratings

Movies about money have always been a popular genre, attracting audiences of all ages and professions. The world of big money and unlimited opportunities, luxury mansions and designer clothes so beckons the common man.

But in the world of big money has its own flip side. Financial fraud, corruption, social inequality, fraud and bankruptcy – that’s the downside of success. Plunge into the world of crazy money together with the characters of the movies from our list.

Table of contents

The Pursuit of Happyness

Rating IMDB – 8.0
Genre: Drama, biography
USA production / 2006
Budget: $55 000 000
Worldwide gross: $307 077 295
Directed by Gabriele Muccino
Cast: Will Smith, Jayden Smith, Tandive Newton, Brian Howe, James Karen, Dan Castellaneta, Kurt Fuller, Takayo Fisher, Kevin West, George Cheung

Despite the circumstances, you must always go forward! That is the motto of salesman Christopher Gardner. Tired of being out of money, the man was abandoned by his wife, leaving him in the care of their young son. But Chris does not lose faith in himself and his dream of becoming a successful businessman.

He enrolls in an unpaid internship at a brokerage firm for six months. This will be the most difficult six months in the life of a small family, which until then could barely make ends meet.

The drama is based on real events in the life of American businessman and motivational speaker Christopher Paul Gardner. The prototype of the main character also appears in the film itself. At the end of the film, there are shots of him walking past Chris Gardner and his son.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Rating IMDB – 8.2
Genre: Drama, crime, biography, comedy
USA production / 2013
Budget: $100 000 000
Worldwide gross: $392 000 694
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, P.J. Byrne, John Bernthal, Christine Milioti, Jean Dujardin, Matthew McConaughey

A young broker named Jordan Belfort remembered for the rest of his life the admonition of his first boss that to make big money was to get high. After the sudden crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1987, Belfort was out of a job. But his persistence and charisma help him open his own firm.

The young man leads a riotous lifestyle, and his firm thrives. But soon the FBI begins to take interest in the quick enrichment of the brisk broker.

One of the best movies about money and business from our list. The events of the movie have a real basis in reality. Former New York broker Jordan Belfort was convicted of money laundering and served 22 months in prison. After his release, Belfort wrote two books and began lecturing on how to achieve success.

American Gangster

Rating IMDB – 7.8
Genre: Drama, Crime, Biography
USA, UK production / 2007
Budget: $100 000 000
Worldwide gross: $266 465 037
Directed by Ridley Scott
Cast: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Limari Nadal, Josh Brolin, Armand Assante, Roger Guenver Smith, Ruby Dee, John Ortiz, Ted Levine

For fifteen years, the quiet Frank Lucas was the driver of the most powerful man in Harlem’s underworld, Elsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. The man didn’t just drive a car, he learned how to run a business.

Now, after Bumpy’s death, Lucas has an idea of how to build his own criminal empire. The former driver applies the rules of market economics to the drug trade: offering a better product at a lower price.

According to gangster and drug dealer Frank Lucas, the events described in the film took place in real life. However, the widow of Elsworth “Bumpy” Johnson claimed that many of the events did not actually happen to Lucas, but to one Zack Walker.

There Will Be Blood

Rating IMDB -8.2
Genre: Drama
USA production / 2007
Budget: $25 000 000
Worldwide gross: $76 181 545
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O’Connor, Kieran Heinds, Dillon Friesier, Russell Harward, Sidney McCallister, Colleen Foy, David Willis, Martin Stringer

The goal of entrepreneur Daniel Plainview’s life is to profit at any cost. After failing as a gold miner, Daniel accidentally stumbles upon an oil field in California.

To get his hands on the land and the oil, Plainview is willing to do anything. He adopts a child to arouse pity, commits treason and murder. But will the “blood of the land” bring him happiness and peace of mind?

The mother of the actor, who played the role of Plainview’s adopted son as a child, refused to consent to the participation of her son in the filming. The day before she had seen the film “Gangs of New York”, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and was horrified by the bloodthirstiness of his character.

The reverent mother changed her mind only after watching the movie “The Age of Innocence”, where the actor played the role, the exact opposite of the “Butcher” from “Gangs of New York.

Molly’s Game

Rating IMDB – 7.4
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
USA, Canada, China production / 2017
Budget: $30 000 000
Worldwide gross: $59 284 015
Directed by Aaron Sorkin
Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O’Dowd, J.C. McKenzie, Brian D’Arcy James, Bill Camp, Graham Greene

She could have been an Olympic champion, but became one of the most odious personalities in the world of card games. After an injury, the talented skier Molly Blum left her athletic career and moved to Los Angeles. In the city of angels, the girl becomes an assistant to an underground card game organizer.

Thanks to her beauty and charisma Molly manages to attract the attention of the most influential member of the games – “Player X”. After that, the girl decides to go free sailing and becomes the owner of the swankiest underground gambling club.

The dramatic gambling movie is based on a real scandalous story. It is known that under the name of “Player X” in the film the famous actor Toby McGuire was brought out. Leonard DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were also star clients of Molly Brown.

Slumdog Millionaire

Rating IMDB – 8.0
Genre: Crime, Drama, Melodrama
UK production / 2008
Budget: $15 000 000
Worldwide gross: $377 910 544
Directed by Danny Boyle, Lovely Tandan
Cast: Dev Patel, Frida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla, Mahesh Manjrekar, Irfan Khan, Madhur Mittal, Raj Zutshi, Geneva Talwar, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail

The touching and sad story of an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai. After his mother’s death, Jamal Malik and his older brother live in a junkyard, where they meet a girl named Latika. The brothers had to go through a lot in their short life, but one day Jamal had a chance. He became a participant in the Indian version of the game “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Question after question and the boy gets closer to the final game. And each correct answer brings him closer to meeting Latika, the love for whom he has carried through his short life.

The main characters in the drama starred ordinary children from Mumbai’s slums as children. The filmmakers promised to do everything possible to provide the young actors with a decent existence. But unfortunately, this did not happen. After the shooting of the film, the children returned to their slums.

Rating IMDB – 7.8
Genre: Drama, biography
USA production / 2010
Budget: $50 000 000
Worldwide gross: $224 920 315
Directed by David Fincher
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Rashida Jones, Brenda Song, Rooney Mara, Brian Barter, Joseph Mazzello

After a young Harvard student, Mark Zuckerberg, got dumped by his girlfriend, he came up with a genius idea. He decided to create a website where students could vote and choose the most attractive girl of the university.

The popularity of the project among young people drew the attention of Mark to wealthy students, the Winklevoss brothers, who offered him a job on the university’s internal social network. Using the brothers’ idea, Zuckerberg and a friend start working on their own social network called “The Facebook”, available not only to Harvard students.

Six days after the launch of The Facebook, the Winklevoss brothers accused Mark Zuckerberg of stealing their own idea and went to court. After years of litigation, the parties reached a settlement agreement, and The Facebook paid the brothers $65 million.

21

Rating IMDB – 6.8
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime, History
USA production / 2008
Budget: $35 000 000
Worldwide gross: $157 927 340
Directed by Robert Luketich
Cast: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yu, Lisa Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Jack McGee, Josh Gad, Sam Golzari

Harvard student Ben Campbell is doing well in math, but is in dire need of money. The boy’s unique abilities are noticed by Professor Mickey Rosa, who makes the student a tempting offer.

It turns out that the professor has assembled a whole team of talented students who, on weekends, using counting cards and secret signs to rob casinos. Meanwhile, too lucky young people fall under the radar of Cole Williams, who heads the security service of a gambling establishment.

The film is based on real events that took place between 1979 and 1994. A group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students, which at some points numbered as many as 80 people, managed to make more than $10 million in Vegas gambling establishments.

Lord of War

Rating IMDB – 7.6
Genre: Drama, Crime
France, Germany, USA production / 2005
Budget: $50 000 000
Worldwide gross: $72 617 068
Directed by Andrew Niccol
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke, Ian Holm, Shake Tuchmanian, Jean-Pierre Nshanian, Eamonn Walker, Sammy Rotibi, Evgeny Lazarev

As a young man, the son of Soviet immigrants, Yuri Orlov realized that the most profitable business on Earth is the arms trade. Beginning by supplying local criminal groups, the calculating Orlov quickly became one of the most influential players in this market.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the remaining family ties in Ukraine brought the enterprising emigrant’s business to a new level. Now almost no world conflict takes place without the participation of weapons supplied to one side or another by Yuri Orlov.

According to the creators of the crime drama, the image of Yuri Orlov is collective, but the main features belong to the Russian Viktor Bout. In 2012, Bout was sentenced to 25 years in the U.S. for arms trafficking, but in 2022 he returned home after an exchange. Victor Bout himself does not identify with the main character in the film.

The Founder

Rating IMDB – 7.2
Genre: Biography, drama
USA, Greece production / 2016
Budget: $25 000 000
Worldwide gross: $24 121 245
Directed by John Lee Hancock
Cast: Michael Keaton, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Linda Cardellini, B.J. Novak, Laura Dern, Justin Brook, Cathy Neeland, Patrick Wilson, Griff First

Ray Kroc, a 50-year-old multi-mixer salesman, was almost on the verge of bankruptcy until he received an order for as many as six units. Since each mixer cost a gigantic $150 at the time, Kroc decided to take a personal look at the catering establishment that ordered them.

What he saw shocked the salesman. At the McDonald Brothers restaurant, it took literally 10 seconds to fill one order. An experienced salesman, Crock immediately decided he wanted in on the business. And so McDonald’s, the largest fast-food chain in the world, was born.

McDonald’s is the largest employer, hiring about a million people annually. At the same time, staff turnover in the chain reaches 400% annually. On average, employees work at a fast-food restaurant for four months. One in eight people in the U.S. has experience working at McDonald’s.

The Counterfeiters

Rating IMDB – 7.5
Genre: Drama, Crime, War, History
Austria, Germany production / 2006
Budget: €4 200 000
Worldwide gross: $18 814 713
Directed by Stefan Ruzowicki
Cast: Karl Markowitsch, August Diehl, David Strissov, Martin Brambach, August Zirner, Veit Stübner, Sebastian Urzendowski, Andreas Schmidt, Thilo Prückner, Lenn Kudryawicki

30-40 years of the last century. Jew Solomon Sorowicz, nicknamed “Sally,” was the best counterfeiter in Berlin. At the beginning of World War II, the Jew Sorowicz was sent by the Nazis to a concentration camp, where he led a relatively tolerable life due to his artistic talent.

But Solomon was soon transferred to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was assigned to set up the production of counterfeit pounds and U.S. dollars. Sorovitch was given experienced engravers, artists, and bankers to assist him. All of them were Jews. And each was plagued by the question: how long would they be allowed to live after successfully completing the assignment?

The war drama is based on real events. During World War II, a secret operation called “Bernhard” was conducted, in which in 18 months the prisoners managed to reproduce the British currency in a very high quality. According to various estimates, up to 300 million counterfeit pounds were printed.

The Big Short

Rating IMDB – 7.8
Genre: Drama, comedy, biography, history
USA production / 2015
Budget: $28 000 000
Worldwide gross: $133 440 870
Directed by Adam McKay
Cast: Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Marisa Tomei

2005, USA. Many investors are investing in mortgage bonds, the yields on which are constantly rising. A talented analyst and manager of a hedge fund, Michael Bury, concludes that the financial pyramid of mortgage lending is about to collapse.

Bjurry realizes that by playing the downside, he can make big money. Independently of him, several other financial analysts come to the same conclusion. It won’t be long before their predictions come true.

One of the truthful and cynical films about money and the success that comes with it. The consequences of the global economic crisis of 2008 are still being felt today. It is comparable in scale and impact to the Great Depression of the 1930s. And one of the causes of the recession was the overheating of the credit market and the ensuing mortgage crisis.

American Made

Rating IMDB – 7.1
Genre: Action, Drama, Comedy, Crime
USA, Japan, Columbia production / 2017
Budget: $50 000 000
Worldwide gross: $134 866 593
Directed by Doug Lyman
Cast: Tom Cruise, Donal Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones, Lola Kirk, Jayma Mays, Alejandro Edda, Benito Martinez, E. Roger Mitchell

Barry Seal, the youngest airline pilot in the United States, couldn’t refuse an offer from a CIA agent to work for this powerful organization. Barry was to photograph secret rebel targets in Latin America.

One day representatives of the Medellin Cartel came to the pilot with an offer to transport drugs to the United States. Now Barry Seal receives money from two sides at once – from the drug mafia and the CIA.

The hero of the crime drama Adler Berryman Seal, an American civilian pilot, was a smuggler and smuggled weapons and drugs. He worked with the CIA, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Medellin Cartel. Altogether smuggled 56 tons of cocaine into the United States. In 1984 he was shot by order of the drug mafia.

El robo del siglo

Rating IMDB – 7.1
Genre: Action, drama, comedy, crime, biography
Argentina, USA production / 2020
Worldwide gross: $7 627 100
Directed by Ariel Grape
Cast: Guillermo Francella, Diego Peretti, Luis Luque, Pablo Rago, Rafael Ferro, Mariano Argento, Juan Alari, Fabian Arenillas, Dario Levi, Mahela Sanotta

A film about a bank robbery that took place in 2006 in Buenos Aires. Fernando Araujo is a very creative person, he is not a bad artist and wrestling coach. It was his idea to rob a bank in broad daylight.

The first group had to sneak into the bank vault through a tunnel dug underground, while the second group had to take hostages and divert attention from the first. Oddly enough, the robbery succeeded. The robbers would never have been found if not for one little thing.

The crime comedy is based on a story that took place in reality. The author of the idea of the heist, artist Fernando Araujo, participated in the project as a screenwriter.

Gold

Rating IMDB – 6.7
Genre: Drama, Crime
USA production / 2016
Budget: $20 000 000
Worldwide gross: $14 880 939
Directed by Stephen Geagan
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Edgar Ramirez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Bill Camp, Joshua Harteau, Timothy S. Simons, Craig T. Nelson, Macon Blair

Kenny Wells is a third-generation gold miner. The young man was nearly bankrupt, but managed to buy a piece of land on the Indonesian island of Borneo with his last bit of money.

He was advised to buy this particular plot of land by local geologist Michael Acosta, who was firmly convinced of the presence of gold on the island. Within a year, the company found a gold vein on Wells’ land with reserves of about 250 tons of the precious metal.

The plot of the film about gold prospectors is based on the real story of a scandalous exposure of an alleged gold mine discovered in the wilds of Indonesia. In reality, Michael Acosta’s prototype, geologist Michael de Guzman, was adding shavings of gold from his wedding ring to ore samples.

Two for the Money

Rating IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Drama, Crime, Sports
USA production / 2005
Budget: $35 000 000
Worldwide gross: $30 526 509
Directed by D.J. Caruso
Cast: Al Pacino, Matthew McConaughey, Rene Russo, Armand Assante, Jeremy Piven, Jamie King, Kevin Chapman, Ralph Garmen, Gedde Watanabe, Carly Pope

An injury put an end to Brandon Lang’s sports career. To make a living, Lang is involved in predicting game results on a pay-per-play telephone line. Being attentive and understanding the inner workings of American soccer, the former athlete is almost never wrong.

This brings him to the attention of Walter Abrams, the owner of the largest bookmaker’s office in the country. Brandon becomes one of the hosts on Abrams’ show on cable television. At first everything goes perfectly, but gradually Brandon begins to lose his edge.

The sports drama is based on events in the life of American soccer player Brandon Lang, who appears in the very first scene of the film.

Too Big to Fail

Rating IMDB – 7.3
Genre: Drama, Biography, History
USA production / 2011
Directed by Curtis Hanson
Cast: William Hurt, Edward Asner, Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti, Topher Grace, Cynthia Nixon, Bill Pullman, Tony Halloup, James Woods, John Hurd

This is how the financial crisis of 2008 began. The head of one of the largest banks in the U.S., Lehman Brothers, Dick Fulds, is trying to find new sources of financing. But potential investors are convinced that the bank is too bogged down in mortgages.

Misjudging the situation on the real estate market, Fulds rejects several unprofitable, from his point of view, offers. This has become a point of no return. The government refuses to help the distressed company. The Secretary of the Treasury demands that Fulds declare bankruptcy.

The drama is based on the documentary book by American journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, “Too Big to Fail. How Wall Street and Washington fought to save the financial system and themselves: an inside look”.

Boiler Room

Rating IMDB – 7.0
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime
USA production / 2000
Budget: $26 000 000
Worldwide gross: $28 780 255
Directed by Ben Younger
Cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Nikki Katt, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, Ron Rifkin, Jamie Kennedy, Taylor Nichols

A young man, Seth Davis, set up an illegal casino in his own apartment. But his father, who works as a judge, demanded that the illegal business stop. One of the casino customers advises Seth to get a job at a brokerage firm, where he can make good money. The guy heeds the advice.

Soon Seth realizes that under the big earnings there is a fraud with clients’ money, who are offered “junk” securities of unknown and even fictitious companies.

A boiler is part of the water treatment system, which is responsible for warming up. The work of financial “boilers” is based on “warming up” of clients and brokers themselves. Such offices create the appearance of active securities trading, artificially heating up supply and demand. As a result clients of “boiler rooms” risk ending up with a portfolio of illiquid securities that are impossible to sell.

Twenty Bucks

Rating IMDB – 6.3
Genre: Drama, comedy
USA production / 1993
Directed by Keva Rosenfeld
Cast: Linda Hunt, Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Shue, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Lloyd, Spalding Gray, David Rush, George Morphogen, Sam Sorbo, Bubba Baker

The main character of the comedy film is a $20 bill. The viewer witnesses its birth and death. In between these two moments it travels through human destinies. And everyone, in whose hands the banknote falls, life changes dramatically.

The twenty dollar bill depicts the 7th president of the United States, Andrew Jackson. It is quite ironic, because Andrew Jackson was a zealous slave owner and also an opponent of the creation of the Bank of the United States and the spread of paper money.

It is planned that soon Andrew Jackson’s politically incorrect figure on the bill will be replaced by the image of the black Harriet Tubman. In the mid-19th century, this former slave fought against the slave trade and the oppression of women.

All the Money in the World

Rating IMDB – 6.8
Genre: Biography, thriller, crime, detective, drama
USA, Italy, UK, China production / 2017
Budget: $50 000 000
Worldwide gross: $56 996 304
Directed by Ridley Scott
Cast: Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Romain Durice, Timothy Hutton, Charlie Plummer, Charlie Shotwell, Andrew Bakan, Marco Leonardi, Giuseppe Bonifati

1973. Right on the street, the 16-year-old grandson of the world’s richest man, John Paul I Getty, is kidnapped. The kidnappers contact the victim’s family and demand $17 million in ransom money. But Paul I believes the kidnapping was planned by the grandson himself with the tacit consent of his mother.

Only Fletcher Chase, the Getty Company’s security chief and a former CIA officer, can change the cranky old man’s mind. But will he be able to save the teenager?

This crime thriller is based on real events. John Paul I Getty was notorious for being exceptionally stingy. After a five-month wait, the kidnappers agreed to reduce the ransom amount to $3 million.

John Paul I Getty contributed $2,200,000 from his fortune, lending the remaining $800,000 to his son against interest.

Rogue Trader

Rating IMDB – 6.4
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime, History
UK production / 1999
Budget: $12 800 000
Directed by James Dearden
Cast: Christian Solimeno, Ewan McGregor, Lorna Pegler, David Pham, Tim McInerney, Cecil Chung, Michelle Lee, Anna Friel, Michael Garner, Sharon Duce

1989 year. Nick Leeson, 22, was hired at Barings, Britain’s oldest bank. A young man of remarkable intelligence and enviable persistence, he quickly learned the intricate paperwork of banking. Leeson was assigned to the Singapore branch, where he had to deal with asset accounting and stock trading.

The guy turned out to be amazingly lucky, and his trades brought profit to the bank for several years. In reality, Leeson was not doing so well. He was simply hiding the losses from his unsuccessful trades within the bank’s financial accounting system.

The damage from Nick Leeson’s unauthorized operations exceeded the equity of Barings Bank and put an end to its 233-year history. The National Bank of Great Britain preferred not to intervene in the situation. As a result, Barings was sold for one pound and turned into a branch of a Dutch financial group.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Rating IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Drama, melodrama
USA production / 2010
Budget: $70 000 000
Worldwide gross: $134 748 021
Directed by Oliver Stone
Cast: Michael Douglas, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Brolin, Cary Mulligan, Frank Langella, Vanessa Ferlito, Thomas Belesis, Eli Wallach, Susan Sarandon, Richard Stratton

The second part of the acclaimed 1987 film Wall Street. After serving time for his financial fraud, Gordon Gekko is out of prison. He is not eager to plunge back into the fast life of Wall Street. The experienced financier has studied the situation and suggests that the overheated mortgage market is about to burst.

The year 2008 was coming, and Gekko’s predictions began to come true. And then fate bumps the man into the trader Jacob Moore, soon to be the husband of his daughter.

This movie is regularly included in the top of the best movies about money and business. In preparation for the filming, actor Shia LaBeouf performed the role of Jacob Moore and studied at a real financial exchange.

During the training LaBeouf took a risk and invested their own 20 thousand dollars. As a result, the actor made a profit of 380 thousand dollars.

Joy

Rating IMDB – 6.6
Genre: Drama, biography
USA production / 2015
Budget: $60 000 000
Worldwide gross: $101 134 059
Directed by David O. Russell
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Edgar Ramirez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rossellini, Dasha Polanco, Elizabeth Rhome, Susan Lucci

A young woman named Joy is a real loser. She is divorced, raising two children alone, sharing a home with numerous unsettled relatives, and working as a simple dispatcher.

But one incident changes everything. One day, Joy breaks a glass and severely injures her hand while trying to squeeze a mop. In the young woman’s mind comes the idea of creating a self-extracting mop.

The film is based on facts from the biography of American inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano. It was she who invented the miracle mop Miracle Mop, as well as non-slip clothes hangers, fluorescent flea collar for dogs and much more.

Margin Call

Rating IMDB – 7.1
Genre: Thriller, Drama
USA production / 2011
Budget: $3 500 000
Worldwide gross: $19 504 039
Directed by J.C. Chandor
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Aasif Mandvi

Autumn 2008. The world is about to be hit by a global economic crisis. An employee of a major U.S. bank, in analyzing the firm’s financial condition and global trends, comes to a terrifying conclusion.

Decline in mortgage loan quotes, which make up the bank’s main investment portfolio, will soon lead it to losses exceeding the value of its assets. In the next 24 hours, the bank’s management must decide what to do with the “toxic” investments.

The prototype of a financially failing bank was the oldest bank in the United States, Lehman Brothers. By 2008, the bank had made $680 billion in mortgage loans, with only $22.5 billion of its own funds. With the onset of the mortgage crisis in 2008, the bank went bankrupt, making it the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history.

Crazy Rich Asians

Rating IMDB – 6.9
Genre: Drama, melodrama, comedy
USA production / 2018
Budget: $30 000 000
Worldwide gross: $238 532 921
Directed by John M. Chu
Cast: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Aquafina, Harry Shum Jr, Ken Jong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang

Chinese-American Rachel Chu meets Nick Young, a native of Singapore. The couple accepts the friends’ invitation to attend their wedding in Nick’s homeland and meet his family at the same time.

The surprises start already on the plane, where Nick, a simple teacher, has paid for a first-class flight. In response to Rachel’s question, the young man admits that he comes from a very wealthy family. But upon arrival, it turns out that Nick’s parents are not thrilled with their son’s poor bride. What will the lovers do?

The plot of the comedy melodrama is borrowed from the book of the same name by Kevin Kwan, an American writer of Singaporean origin.

The writer himself knows firsthand about the life of the rich in Asia. His family belongs to the so-called “old money,” that is, to a closed financial elite whose wealth and influence go back centuries.

A Most Violent Year

Rating IMDB – 7.0
Genre: Action, thriller, drama, crime
USA, OAE production / 2014
Budget: $20 000 000
Worldwide gross: $12 007 070
Directed by J.C. Chandor
Cast: Oscar Isaac, Jessica Chastain, David Oyelowo, Alessandro Nivola, Elies Gabel, Albert Brooks, Lorna Pruce, Christopher Abbott, Matthew Meher, Jerry Edler

The 1980s. Immigrant Albert Morales has built a successful business in New York practically from scratch. Soon the man will close the long-awaited deal to buy an oil terminal, which will take his business to the next level.

But troubles begin to descend on Morales like from the horn of plenty. His cars are stolen, his drivers are intimidated, banks refuse loans and the prosecutor’s office starts to take interest in his firm. But Morales is ready to protect his business and is going to do it honestly, without betraying his own principles.

The meaning of the crime drama can be explained by Immanuel Kant’s ethical doctrine of deontology. The basic principle of deontology is the importance of the actions themselves, not their consequences. That is, if a morally incorrect action ends with a morally correct result, the action is still considered wrong.

The Wizard of Lies

Rating IMDB – 6.8
Genre: Drama, Crime, Biography
USA production / 2017
Directed by Barry Levinson
Cast: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Alessandro Nivola, Hank Azaria, Lily Rabe, Kristen Connolly, Catherine Narducci, Michael Kostroff, Nathan Darrow, Steve Coulter

After 50 years on Wall Street, one of the biggest investors, Bernard Madoff, gathered his family for an important announcement. The respected financier and philanthropist admitted to his family that his entire investment company was a bluff. The firm is essentially a pyramid scheme that is about to collapse.

One of the big money movies based on real events. Bernard Madoff was accused in 2008 of creating the world’s largest financial pyramid scheme disguised as an investment fund. The financier was sentenced to 150 years in prison.

Owning Mahowny

Rating IMDB – 7.0
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Crime
Canada, UK production / 2002
Budget: $10 000 000
Worldwide gross: $1 176 302
Directed by Richard Kwitniewski
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Drive, John Hurt, Maury Chaikin, Ian Tracy, Sonia Smits, C.K. Collins, Jason Bleecker, Vince Corazza, Roger Dunn

Dan Mahoney successfully graduated from university and brilliantly passed the interview at one of Canada’s largest banks. Colleagues quickly appreciated the promising newcomer’s business acumen. At the age of 24 Dan became an assistant manager of one of the bank’s branches.

Along with a respectable position, the young man got unlimited access to money of clients. But the intelligent young man is a complete gambler. And this addiction drags him deeper and deeper.

The main character’s real-life prototype, Brian Moloney, spent ten million of the bank’s customers’ money and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Since the con-artist clerk was officially recognized as a cheating addict, the bank filed a lawsuit against the casino. According to the lending institution’s attorneys, knowing about Moloney’s addiction, they encouraged him to gamble by providing free rooms, restaurant dinners, and airline tickets.

Casino Jack

Rating IMDB – 6.2
Genre: Drama, comedy, crime, biography
Canada production / 2009
Budget: $15 000 000
Worldwide gross: $1 083 683
Directed by George Hickenlooper
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Barry Pepper, Kelly Preston, Jon Lovitz, Daniel Cash, Spencer Garrett, Jeffrey R. Smith, Jeff Pastil, Graham Greene, Yannick Bisson

A biopic about the life of former powerful Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Jack plays in the big leagues. He knows how to pull the strings of American politicians to pass the laws he wants.

Jack has access to all kinds of offices, including the Oval Office in the White House itself. In his phenomenally profitable activities, Jack is willing to go over his head and wears masks all the time. But everything comes to an end sometime.

The film is based on real events. Once respected lobbyist Jack Abramoff also had a hand in projects that changed the lives of Russians. For example, he was involved in the allocation of a $4.781 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to Russia in 1998, which, unfortunately, did not help our country avoid a painful default.

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