We are frequently asked for movie recommendations. So we want to share our picks. But we have a huge bias toward realism in business movies.
There are so many bad business movies where business is just a plot device to move the story along. Our issue is with the hard work involved and the boring business details you have to master. You have to take “NO” every day for a lifetime in sales and marketing. Running an actual business sucks, except when it doesn’t. What is missing from the average business movie is hard work.
It is easy to write a bad business movie
It is really easy to write a bad business movie. Most business movies have little to do with actual business. The few good business movies are about real business events like the Enron fake accounting scandal or the mortgage melt down of 2008.
There are two typical business movie plots. “Steve Jobs” plot. The main character does anything to achieve success. He grows and becomes humble. Or “Barbershop” – Non business people learn what it takes to run a business.
The Steve Jobs Plot. Create a protagonist who is a jerk but driven and focused. Get some conflict, add a couple of real-life business events, and some character with morals who get run over later by the main character. Next, show the main character stabbing the good guys in the back to achieve success. And finally, end with either the main character becoming more humble over time and treating people with respect.
The Barbershop plot. Create some fun and likeable characters who know nothing about business. Add a white-guy villain in a suit (“the banker”) who threatens to foreclose. Show the group learning about business and becoming financial wizards. Add in some unrealistic financial miracle to save the business. Go home happy.
Yawn.
Our issue is that there is so little actual business knowledge in many of these movies. The movies are really just entertainment in a business environment with few business details. There is nothing to learn.
Top Movies
Here are our recommendations for top Black Business movies and business movies in general.
Black Business Movies
Boss: The Black Experience in Business (PBS) — Black business history
The Banker (Apple TV) – Required watching especially for real estate investors. Does not end well. Performances are pretty good.
LionHeart(NetFlix) – Cute but the usual fairy tale ending.
Self-Made(IMDB) – the story of Madam CJ Walker as a mini-series.
She Did That (Netflix)
Barbershop (Rotten Tomatoes) and Barbershop 2 (IMDB)
Great Movies
The Founder (Netflix)- Michael Keaton plays Ray Kroc as a salesman who discovers the perfect production process for the masses. Kroc is focused and as always, a little crazy.
Margin Call (IMDB) – Our personal favorite because of the finance details. An examination of the mortgage-backed security crisis that caused the 2008 financial crisis.
The Big Short (Netflix)- Same thing, we like the details.
The Social Network(NetFlix)- Zuckerberg is sued. Good legal stuff about intellectual property, but otherwise predictable.
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (IMDB) – Lots of good accounting information, such as overstating asset values.
Average Movies that are popular that you should watch
Purist of Happyness (Netflix) – Will smith finally succeeds
Glengarry Glen Ross – Futile salesman perusing “golden” leads. A critique on capitalism and the rat race.
Wolf of Wall Street (IMDB) – all of the Wall Street excesses of the 1990s in one movie. I think they ran out of clichés. If you watch this movie, you have to also read “The Great Gatsby.”
Wall Street (IMDB) — 1987. “Greed is good,” and your job is gone.
King Richard – The Williams sister’s dad. (Netflix). How far do would you go to be successful?
Air – Michael Jordan and Nike (Netflix)
Movies and shows where we thought they would talk about business more
Power (Netflix) – miniseries
Good Deeds (IMDB)- Tyler Perry
Other Business Movies
Strictly Business (IMDB)- Humar with a business background.
Jumping the Broom (IMDB) – Rich husband is bankrupt, but wife has been saving money on the sly. Surprise not.
Media(IMDB) – Cathy Hughes of Urban one. Not bad, not great.
Black Hamptons(IMDB)- A fun soap opera. We wish we were those people.
If we had to watch three movies
The Banker, the Founder and Lionheart.