Where trust exists, scammers scurry ’round to exploit it. Case in point, as Ben McKenzie proves several times over in his first feature as writer and director: crypto. The erstwhile star of Fox’s The O.C. and Gotham turns “undercover econ nerd” with Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, a highly engaging plunge into Bitcoin and all its suspect siblings.

“This is a film about a thing called cryptocurrency,” he says straight to camera in the prologue. “It’s pretty stupid.”

He means the topic, of course, not the documentary (based on his 2024 book with Jacob Silverman, Easy Money). When an investment tip from a college friend leads him down the crypto rabbit hole, McKenzie doesn’t like what he finds. In fact, he smells a scam — a Ponzi scheme, to be clear — and possibly a cult. His investigation into what’s legit and what’s bluster begins in El Salvador’s much-ballyhooed “Bitcoin City” and ends with him testifying before Congress in Washington, D.C.

In between, we get glimpses of his home life with wife Morena Baccarin — must be rough. In London, he visits her on the set of Greenland 2, where Gerard Butler shares crypto has served his wallet well. It’s the only scene I wish he’d left out, because it’s staged for laughs.

If this acting thing doesn’t pan out, McKenzie’s side hustle as a Michael Moore-style documentarian — but with GQ looks — is now all but assured. He more than holds his own interviewing Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. That both men since have become convicted fraudsters is not a spoiler for the film, but a testament to McKenzie’s bullshit detector, shoe-leather reporting and, yes, bravery.

Who knew this former teen idol was going to be one of this year’s American heroes? Great job, Ben. Now do AI! —Rod Lott

Opens Friday, April 17.