Young English investment broker, Nick Leeson, distinguishes himself in his bank's Jakarta office and his reward is an assignment in Singapore, where he unwisely manages both the trading floor and the office operations. His first year is a big success with huge profits, despite some some questionable practices to retain an important client. However, he also establishes an 88888 account, which makes his employer, Baring Bank, into a customer, and he crosses the line again with forged documents to verify a large non-existent transaction. Based on a true story, "Rogue Trader" may confuse those whose vocabulary does not include puts and calls, options and futures, commodities and derivatives. Written and directed by James Deardon from Leeson's autobiography, the film uses extensive voice-over to share Leeson's thoughts and feelings as his illegal activities spiral out of control. Even Leeson seems stupefied and astounded at the magnitude of the damage he has wrought.

Ewan McGregor does well as Leeson, and, for those McGregor fans who want all the Ewan they can get, Deardon offers extended shots of the actor in shorts, bathing suits, completely nude, and bare-assed. Anna Fiel plays Leeson's wife, Lisa; she is passable in an undemanding role and exposes less flesh to the camera than her co-star. Drinking binges, euphoric highs, and emotional lows provide McGregor with a showcase for his talent; if only the film were worthy of him. "Rogue Trader" is not a bad film, but confusing at times, and narration is a lazy device. Filmed in Singapore where the story took place, the movie is a cut above TV fare, but only a small cut. Without McGregor the film would be less worthy of watching; with him, "Rogue Trader" is a passable take on a famous crime.

I don't have youth on my side, as regards Nick Leeson's quote that headlines this small review, but I was hungry for a good film and I didn't have a clue about what it would be like!

Rogue Trader is the story of how wide boy Nick Leeson brought about the downfall of Barings Merchant Bank, one of the most financially historical institutions in London. A fictionalised adaptation from Leeson's own autobiography, the potential for a potent insight into insider trading et al is wasted. Instead we get a film of baffling trader chatter, newspaper like direction from James Dearden, and performances outside of Ewan McGregor as Leeson, that are distinctly unbelievable.

Those who work in the industry this involves are sure to find some rewards, but to the outsiders peeking in to hopefully learn whist being entertained, it's a damp financial squib. 5/10

Rogue Trader is a 1999 film that tells the story of Nick Leeson who managed to bankrupt Barings Bank.

All you have to do is hear the words "investment banker," "stock broker," or "bonds trader," and you know what the movie is about. Supposedly, as with Bernie Madoff, the main character didn't start out to cheat Barings Bank. When the market was going up, Leeson was very successful, but he started breaking rules early on. When the markets started to crash, his losses became bigger and bigger and bigger until his house of fake trades began to crumble.

Totally predictable, but nevertheless, suspenseful, well acted, and involving. Ewan McGregor is excellent - young, attractive, and happily married, one could really feel the horrible pressure he was under keeping up a brave front, though he could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he had spoken up at the beginning.

The moral of this story is, the more money that comes in, the greedier everyone gets - the investors, the banks, the brokers, everyone. No one asks any questions as long as you're making money. By the time they start asking questions, it's too late. Everyone is culpable. Enron had no products and a bunch of dummy corporations, and the banks were loaning them millions upon millions of dollars. Try getting a loan from a bank some time. And they wonder why they had to be baled out.

Anna Friel does a good job as his wife. That was another sad thing in the film -- she wasn't a woman who cared about the money. She didn't even want to live in Singapore. She just loved him and wanted to be with him.

I really can't follow the technical aspects of these finance stories, but still, this was good.