Boiler Room (2000)

The intense soundtrack of Boiler Room is a fitting underscore for this movie, which pulses with the vigor of young, rich, amoral men wreaking havoc. This is not the antisocietal havoc of Fight Club, but the more deliberate mayhem that comes from greed run amok. The testosterone-junkie brokers of J.T. Marlin (the only female in the office is Abby, the receptionist and love interest, played by Nia Long) are out to make the sale, and whether that sale is legal or ethical doesn't matter.

Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi) is a 19-year-old college dropout who strives for approval from his father (Ron Rifkin), a judge who is horrified that his son operates a 24-hour illicit casino. When an old friend visits the casino with a fellow broker, Davis is impressed by their wads of money and yellow Ferrari, and decides to join the firm. In no time he's making sales and settling into the groove of the office and all the after-hours perks, but the dream fades when Davis discovers the scam that is making all of the brokers wealthy beyond their dreams.

Borrowing heavily from Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross, Boiler Room is at its best when dealing with matters of money, and powerful scenes of Davis learning to be a "closer" showcase the significant talent of Ribisi, Nicky Katt, and Vin Diesel. The movie flounders when developing the relationship between Davis and his father, becoming sentimental and trite. However, as a fable of modern society and a nostalgic vehicle about the days of yuppies past, Boiler Room is right on the money. --Jenny Brown Amazon.com

Wall Street fiascos revisited

In the wake of the collapse of the housing market, the credit crunch, several hundred million dollars being funneled to Wall Street in the form of government bailouts and the latest mega Wall Street scam by Bernard Madoff, this is a sobering movie that deals with the arrogance of crooks who masquerade as stock brokers.

Giovanni Ribisi is most well known as a supporting actor in movies such as Saving Private Ryan (Special Limited Edition) as well as TV shows like The X Files. In this film, he takes the leading role, which is somewhat remarkable in a movie that features the likes of Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck. Ribisi rises to the occasion, however, and is sympathetic as a brand new stockbroker who is trying to learn the ropes at a firm.

Problem is, this is the very type of firm that has helped lead the U.S. to its current economic recession. The brokers are crooks who would worship paragons of duplicity such as Mr. Madoff. In fact, for fun they sit around and recite the lines from Wall Street (20th Anniversary Edition) and think of Michael Douglas' character as someone they should look up to. Talk about missing the point of a movie!

There is a catharsis in this film in that the egocentric, arrogant thieves who think so highly of themselves eventually find out their free-ride is over with. With that in mind, I believe that this should be a standard movie for every fledgling stock broker to watch; perhaps it might plant a few seeds of morality in the amoral world of Wall Street. December 20, 2008

Wall Street Lite - 3 1/2 Stars

Right off - this is one of Giovanni Ribisi's best performances. It's compelling but we never really feel the heat of the Boiler Room. The Danger. The Action. Ben Affleck is extremely good but brief in this - one of his forgotten performances. Everything else about the movie has been said here. More sex, scandal and intrigue would've elevated this way above. EXTRAS: The "original ending" is actually a lot more artful and smarter than the one we get in the final cut. Overall, worth comparing to Wall Street? No. Worth watching? Yes. June 1, 2008

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the boiler room...

My sister often rants and raves about the greatness of this movie when I'm around her. Her obvious bias to the hotness that is Vin Diesel clearly distorts her opinion of this movie, but I must say that after actually giving it a try, there are moments in this movie that work extremely well, and when it's all said and done it's actually a pretty decent movie.

The film revolves around college dropout Seth Davis who is constantly trying to get out from under his fathers disapproval. Dropping out of college and running and illegal casino out of his apartment isn't the right way to go about earning his affections, but Seth doesn't seem to understand that. When a chance meeting with stock broker Greg Weinstein gets Seth's appetite wet for the big bucks to be had with this legit line of work he decides that this may be just what he needs to get his father to forgive him, and be proud of him. It appears that Seth has a knack for this business. Before long he's become a selling machine and is on his way to making his first million. But then he notices something that's just not right, and after doing a little digging he realizes that this legit gig may not be all that legit after all.

Giovanni Ribisi is one of those actors I really wish would break out in a huge way. I've always really liked him, and I feel that given the right role he could land in awards territory. His performance here is strong; in fact it would be golden if it weren't muddled by some poorly scripted areas. Scenes where he's `selling' are flawless; yet when he's interacting with his father it becomes a little sappy and overly clichéd. His big `crying' scene comes off forced and it just takes away from the film in my opinion. It's in stark contrast to the `relationship' scene at the diner, which is in my opinion one of the best scenes in the film; go figure.

Vin Diesel soars here. His performance as Chris Varick, the broker who takes Seth under his wing, is remarkably flawless. Nia Long is beautiful and graceful yet sorely underused here. I with they would have given her something more to do. Ron Rifkin is believable as Seth's domineering father even if I never could begin to `like' his character.

And I'll just say it now; I thought Ben Affleck was the worst thing about this movie.

What makes `Boiler Room' so poignant is that is exposes the way that greed can ravage anyone. It's not the type of film you expect to be deep or meaningful but when the credits start to roll you realize that this movie represents a growing problem in Corporate-America. The careless and apathetic attitude of most all the characters is sadly not exaggerated. As much as you want to just slap these characters upside the head for their selfish and horrendous actions you can't help but see a little bit of them inside yourself. What we also get to see is that no one is as innocent as they appear to be. Even if one is morally just it doesn't make them ethically just. Look at the comparisons between Seth and his father. Seth may not do everything up to the high moral code his father follows but he appears to have a genuine care for other people whereas his father, self-righteous and on his high horse uses that moral ruler as an iron fist that crushes his relationship ("what relationship?") with his son.

In the end I enjoyed `Boiler Room'. It's not brilliant and it is predictable, but it works for the most part. It could have been tweaked a bit, but what movie couldn't use a little tweaking? Watch it to see Diesel out perform his co-stars and prove he's more than one big muscle and watch it to see the unwavering potential hidden behind Giovanni Ribisi's stutter. It's not as powerful as `Wall Street' but it doesn't need to be. March 31, 2008

A updated version of Wall Street

Boiler Room in my opinion is like a twenty first century Wall Street. Giovanni Ribbisi is in his Charlie Sheen mood in the lead role while in a small part Ben Affleck is kind of like the Micheal Douglas character. Vin Diesel gave one of his first lead hollywood dramtaic performances roles in this movie and I wish he would return to those. Also look for the sexy Nia Long as Ribbisi's love interest . A great debut from director Ben Younger who needs to be given more work in Hollywood. March 25, 2008

A Glimpse Into the "Innocent" Moral Vacuum of Our Era

I really agree with the positive reviews. How can one make moral vacuity interesting? This film succeeds. The lead character is not a tough guy with a conscience like Marlon Brando in 'On The Waterfront.' Rather, he pursues his amoral path with an almost innocent gusto.
Gambling. Stealing. Lying. Fornicating. Cursing. Arrogance. These are all treated as the most normal qualities in the world. The main character and his girlfriend even wonder why he sometimes has twinges of conscience. After all, aren't the guys in the film just grabbing for the brass ring, the American dream. Life's supposed to be fun, isn't it? There always have to be winners and losers, don't there? So why not be a winner? It's about money, initiative, smarts, knowing how to close a deal. It is the utter normalcy of lifestyles devoid of virtue that, to me, make this a classic of American film making. To me, it's the essence of American materialistic existence...i.e., "go for the gold." The guys in the firm are on a path to jail and, ultimately, to hell, but they don't have a clue.
Even the main character is fixed on the memory that his father unaccountably slapped his face when he was ten and fell off his bike and broke his leg. His deep, endless self pity gives him the sense that he is at bottom a good human being. What do I mean? His feelings were deeply hurt when his father slapped him, so he feels he deserves sympathy from others. He sees himself as a sympathetic figure, not someone who deserves to be judged by the F.B.I., God, or anyone else.
Finally, the protagonist is granted full immunity by the F.B.I. for agreeing to answer all their questions about the misdeeds of his shady brokerage firm. Like a lot of people he sees he "did wrong" after he was caught, but it is not clear as the film ends if he has experienced true remorse and learned his lesson.
As the credits roll at the end, we hear his voice saying, "I need to find a job." Thus, he's still thinking about money. Hopefully, he'll be more "legit," but ethics, God, and righteous living remain categories far from his grasp. In short, he's normal, all too normal.
I think this film should be required viewing in every high school and college in America. January 27, 2008

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