Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Rogue Trader (1998)
Director: James Dearden
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Ewan McGregor is Nick Leeson, the Watford chancer who single-handedly destroyed the oldest private bank in the world. How he did this is a source of fascination, yet the film's portrayal of futures trading on the Singapore International Money Exchange is a decidedly plodding assemblage of flashing computer displays, jostling traders in striped blazers, and cutaways to McGregor, bright-eyed or sunken-cheeked as the occasion demands. Rather than aiming for savage satire or ultrablack comedy, the film (based on Leeson's own book) simply plays it down the middle, taking the line that this child of Thatcherism was merely doing his employers' bidding, got in way too deep, and never had the proper management around him. Though his 'gor blimey' accent may grate, McGregor puts his all into the role; his sweating earnestness, however, isn't enough to break the overall inertia, and the rest of the cast are simply bystanders. Anna Friel gets the thankless task of bored housewife Lisa Leeson, while the likes of Tim McInnerny and John Standing compete for the upper-class twit-of-the-year honours as the flailing, plum-toned Barings Bank top brass.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: James Dearden
Producer: James Dearden, Paul Raphael, Janette Day
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Anna Friel, Yves Beneyton, Betsy Brantley, Caroline Langrishe, Nigel Lindsay, Tim McInnerny, Irene Ng, John Standing, Pip Torrens full cast
Duration: 101 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now