Boiler Room

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Khalid N Don't get me wrong this movie is not horrible but compared to the others of its genre like The Firm, 1993 or Wall Street 1998 it's not that good. The story lacks depth in terms of the characters we barely get any information about the other character's lives and the movie doesn't make us attached to any other characters. In terms of acting it was decent except for the monotonous voice of Seth when talking to his father. It's not bad but there are many other movies of the same genre with a 10x better storyline and better character development. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/13/24 Full Review Eye C It's a nice movie, it's just left you high and dry, when it could give you the pleasure of closure. I don't know, it's ok, I guess. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 08/26/23 Full Review ed v Pretty accurate depiction of 2000s New York. Giovanni Ribisi gives a great performance. I stand behind my theory that Ben Affleck is the worst part of every movie he's in. The monologue he rattles off about how rich and successful he is, is the most generic and vague description of wealth I can imagine. The BS stock pushing is the biggest take away. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/06/23 Full Review jelisije j An absolute tribute to movies about the stock market scams. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Movie has familiar faces. Good pacing and story. Only negative is the love story cause it seemed shoehorned in. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member The opening of the "stock jock" stampede with Seth's (Giovanni Ribisi) narration offered a movie that never materialized into what was promised — fitting for the film's topic. I remember watching Boiler Room back in the early 2000s and thought how insane the whole concept was to begin with — handing over thousands of dollars, sometimes a life-saving's worth, to someone you've never met to invest in something you don't know anything about because they called you on the phone? Nevertheless, these "pump and dump" schemes were common back in the 1990s and weren't even the worst things "Wall Street" has done. See The Big Short, The Wolf of Wall Street. Scorsese's TWoWS actually diminishes the value of Boiler Room, even though it isn't fair to compare the two. The highlights include Ben Affleck's opening speech to the trainees — clearly influenced by Glengarry Glen Ross — the hip-hop soundtrack, Ron Rifkin as Seth's father, and the POV shift to the swindled client (Taylor Nichols), which adds a face to JT Marlin's numerous victims. Unfortunately, the film falls victim to the same plot-lines so many films still follow today: a love triangle, a father-son story. When done well, these can create some of the greatest stories we have as a culture, but far too often they feel like a way to increase run-time. The crux of the plot is so interesting — twentysomethings "cold-calling" potential investors and scamming them out of their hard-earned money — we didn't need the love-triangle between Seth, Abbie (Nia Long), and Greg (Nicky Katt). I mean, she's one of the only women in the entire company and of course she's a secretary and of course she had a thing with Greg and of course Seth falls for her. It was shallow and forced. Seth's relationship with his father better, as it explains his motivation for joining JT Marlin, but it too hurt the film simply by taking us away from what really made it interesting. Also, the way his father (a federal judge..) got roped into the scheme was stupid. The movie has one of the douchiest scenes of all-time (I mean this as a compliment to characterize "the gang") wherein Seth, Greg, Jim (Affleck), Chris (Vin Diesel), Richie (Scott Caan), and Adam (Jamie Kennedy) are sitting in Greg's very bachelor mansion, line-by-line quoting Wall Street while eating pizza and drinking beer. The movie doesn't have the most satisfying ending, as we don't see what actually happens to the firm, but whatever it is, we know there will always be finance dirtbags ruining the "American Dream" family by family — it's one of the few guarantees in life. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/01/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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