Boiler Room (2000): Dir: Ben Younger / Cast: Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nicky Katt, Ben Affleck, Nia Long: Film suggests places that we hide sin. A group of young males assemble together to ruin as many lives as possible while striking it rich. Giovanni Ribisi joins a firm as a stockbroker. He dropped out of school and makes money at illegal gambling. His father is a judge and disapproves of his son's choice of work. May remind viewers of Wallstreet although formula elements occur. Fine directing by Ben Younger with rather bland locations. Sly performance by Ribisi caught between temporary satisfaction through a worthless lifestyle, and disappointing his father. We know what is ahead but it is the friendships that cause Ribisi the biggest concern. Vin Diesel and Nicky Katt play veteran brokers but only Diesel comes off as three dimensional as he not only teaches Ribisi the robes, he also reluctantly understands his crucial decision. Katt unfortunately is playing a rival broker whom Ribisi won't impress, which leads to predictable tension. Ben Affleck is there to shout profanities in long meetings to motivate everyone into action. It is the worst role in the film. Nia Long is more or less featured as a possible romantic interest. While this is no Wallstreet, it is a worthy comparison. Message regards alertness to subduing operations within the dark compounds of deceit. Score: 7 / 10

Boiler Room isn't a terrific movie, but it's not a terrible one either. It's definitely entertaining, but at times feels too much like a derivative of other financial thriller films, in particular Wall Street, with some references to Glengarry Glen Ross thrown in for good measure. Because of this, it feels kind of like an pale unoriginal imitation, more than something truly original.The story centers around Seth Davis (Ribisi), a 21-year-old college dropout living in Queens. In place of school, he runs an illegal casino out of his apartment for college students. He makes a good living, but does so against the wishes of his family, in particular his strict, cold father Judge Marty Davis (Rifkin). His father doesn't want to speak to Seth until he makes a living in an honest way. One night, towards closing time, he's visited by an old friend and his colleague. They tell him about being a stockbroker and recruit Seth to join a group interview. Wanting to impress his father, he goes to the interview at J.T. Marlin. About an hour away from NYC in the suburbs, Seth is immediately attracted to the sports cars and luxury suits worn by the brokers. He gets in good with the firm, befriending some of the top brokers and going from relatively weak on the phone into a lying, swindling sales hot shot. Eventually, he realizes J.T. Marlin is nothing more than a pump and dump chop shop peddling worthless penny stocks in a bucket scheme where the customer loses money on the stock while the firm keeps the profit and the broker a $2 commission per share purchased. He also has change of conscience when he scams an innocent man out of his life savings. Seth fights to get out of the situation before everything falls apart.The movie indeed is entertaining and the story interesting, but I just can't help but compare it to Wall Street. Seth Davis is no Bud Fox. Sheen played the role of Fox with the right about of naive innocence and slimy salesmanship. Ribisi keeps the same stoic expression, never seeming to change from the beginning of the movie to the end. The other thing is they both center around father-son relationships and how the sons want to impress their fathers. In Wall Street, you sensed the bond that the two had, which could have been helped by Martin Sheen playing the father role, but in Boiler Room, there seems to be no bond and by 21, if a son doesn't get along with his father, it seems like he'd have no interest in making that connection. Towards the end they have a great scene together, but the relationship seemed awkward for most of the movie. While Wall Street focused on a legitimate brokerage house in NYC which employed Ivy League graduates, Boiler Room is out in the cheaper suburbs, hiring likely blue collared kids with no degree. Maybe that's part of the movie's message, but it's hard to go from Wall Street to the suburbs if you watched Wall Street previously. The story just doesn't have the same punch or the same twists and turns of Wall Street. Ben Affleck does his best imitation of Blake from Glengarry Glen Ross, but it pales to the real thing and again just comes off derivative of Alec Baldwin. Also, there is a lot of unbelievability and things that don't make sense that happen too much in this film.It's entertaining for sure, but I'd stick with Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross if you want cautionary tales of high risk/high reward investment careers.

***SPOILERS*** These greedy and crooked stock brokers never learn. In the movie made 13 years after the the great 1987 stock market crash with dozens of market bigwigs thrown behind bars for manipulating the market and fleecing investors of billions they, a new generation of crooked stock boys, are back again in action doing their thing. This time in a sleazy chop shop brokerage house 100 miles west of Wall Street in Commack NY called J.T Marlin. Told by the brokerage house's chief as well as senior member the 27 year old Jim Young, Ben Affleck, that anyone who's lucky enough to get a job at J.T Martin will end up being a millionaire,like himself, in just three short years. As it later turned out instead of being a millionaire they'll most likely, if they can't make a deal with the FBI, end up behind bars in a federal penitentiary!It'collage drop out Seth Davis, Glovanni Ribisi, who's drawn to J.T Marlin after his father federal district court judge Marty Davis,Ron Rifkin, frond out that he was running an illegal casino out of his home in Kew Gardens Queens. Told by his dad to get himself an honest job as well as a nice Jewish girl Seth ended up doing the exact opposite in both cases! The job that Seth got at J.T Marlin was as criminal a any business run by the Mafia. As for a nice Jewish girl Seth's girlfriend turns out to be the non-Jewish $80,000.00 a year single mom secretary at the place Abbie Halpet, Nia Long. It's was Abbie who ended up, under pressure by the FBI, ratting her "lover" Seth in order to save her own behind for withholding evidence of stock & bond fraud at the brokerage house! As for Seth himself he gets his honest federal judge dad Marty in the mix by getting him to reluctantly give Seth help in the trouble he got himself into thus implicating himself in his son's crimes! And soon Judge Marty finds himself facing not only disbarment but a stretch behind bars! All this trouble and heartbreak, in Seath's family, could have so easily been avoided if he just stayed with his illegal casino operation which his outraged dad made him give up for better things in life. Like a job at J.T Marlin where almost the entire crew that worked there ended up behind bars. With Seath, who like his girlfriend Abbie, ratting them out in order to save his own neck!***SPOILERS***Like the famous saying by Michael Douglas as sleaze ball Wall Street "Master of the Universe" Gordon Gekko in the movie "Wall Street" that "Greed is Good" Seth Davis and his fellow shyster stock brokers found out it, unrestricted and criminal greed,is just the opposite. Banned for life in the financial world was the best thing that Seth got by ratting out low life stock broker crooks like himself.Seth's dad was lucky to avoid jail time but lost his job as a well respected federal judge by just trying to help his not too bright son from ending up in the slammer ! As for Seth his only redeeming feature was getting one of his abused and cheated clients Harry Reynard, Taylor Nichols, his $50,000.00 in life saving back. It was the very naive and susceptible Reynard that Seth talked into investing in a company that didn't exist and was soon to go kaput. That was about the best thing that Seth did in his short career as an, or so he hoped, up and coming big time Wall Street stock broker.

Well this is an easy one for me. i watched this 4 years ago. The writing in this movie is an 8 out of 10. Its a more than solid idea for a movie with a nicely adapted story. What put this movie over the top for me was the acting. I usually can't stand Vin Diesel or Ben Affleck, but this movie makes me think there's hope for them yet. Affleck sells it with the cocky, over the top character, and diesel plays a similar character with a conscience. The actor that steals the show however, is Giovanni Ribisi. He plays a character who is a slacker,but a guy who is clearly smart and knows how to make money for himself. When all is lost and you feel he is a one dimensional heartless character like the rest (minus Diesel), he does everything in his power to get Harry Reynard, a hard working family man, his money back that he had lost in the scam that was JT Marlin. As i said before, the writing in the movie gets a, 8 out of 10, and the acting gets a 9 out of 10. Props to Ben Younger, Giovanni Ribisi and a surprisingly good performance by Vin Diesel and Ben Affleck. Notable supporting roles to Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott and Ron Rifkin. Excellent movie.