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Boiler Room Customer Reviews (16 - 18 of 24 Reviews)

An awesome movie
Boiler room is a very interesting movie about a topic that seems like it is very possibly going on all the time. Giovanni Ribisi is convincing as a genious who keeps making the wrong choices. Other strong performances by Vin Diesel and Nicky Kaat.

A Gem of a Film
It is very obvious to anyone who has seen "Wall Street" that this film borrows an awful lot from Oliver Stone's 1987 classic. Every stock broker in the film seems to be modelled on Michael Douglas' Gordon Gekko character with the exception of Giavanni Ribisi who unfortunately seems to be moulded on the Charlie Sheen part. The paralels between the two films are incredible but that doesn't mean that "The Boiler Room" is in anyway a lesser film because of it.

Giovanni Ribisi plays Seth, a 19 year old who drops out of college to start his own backdoor casino. He proves to be a genius running "the biz" and one night he is payed a visit by a long time friend who has now become a stock broker. With visions of becoming a millionaire within three years Seth eagerly takes a job at the firm.

Throughout the film Ribisi seems to have a strange attachment to his Father. (Much like the Sheen's in Wall Street) He wants to be constantly "doing good" so his Father can be proud of him. This is fine and everything but eventually it gets way out of control and the film starts to indulge in banal sentimentality. You start to wonder towards the end if Ribisi is suffering from some strange reverse Oedipus complex or something.

The best scenes are indeed the ones at the office. Ribisi quickly learns how to "close" and get anyone's money but gradually starts to feel hollow inside. In one scene he takes the life savings of an easily manipulated middle class Father. He consciously takes his money knowing it will be lost.

The stock brokers are a fitting image of Gordon Gekko. Ben Affleck especially who's only part in the movie is to come in the room and scream at the new guys. "Whoever says money is the root of all evil doesn't have any" is his character's memorable line. You get the impression though that his character is only there to amplify the cuthroat mentality of the wall street lifestyle. He's still real fun to listen to though. The rest of the brokers are all high on their own greed and are so over the top that it's actually just silly. For no reason there are three bar fights as rival broker's start trouble over who wears a nicer tie. I'm not sure who wrote their dialogue but apparently they have been watching too many mob movies. Each broker talks like a Maffioso and really in the end can't be taken seriously. "American Psycho" satirized stock broker's so well when they were seen arguing about who had the nicest font on their business card. "The Boiler Room's" broker's are basically a more extreme version of the same thing.

"The Boiler Rrom" really flows well and that is it's best asset. It is the perfect length and never goes too far in one direction to get boring. The killer instinct is played out perfectly and makes for an energetic, often times very funny movie. A gem.

A Tale of Greed
A fly-by-night stock brokerage selling bogus stocks to unsuspecting customers is the scene for this tale of greed as a young man, Seth, played by Giovanni Ribisi of "Wonder Years" fame, gets into the business. The tale of his rise, fall and eventual redemption kept me on the edge of my seat. There was so much action and excitement to the film that I didn't look at my watch once.

Seth also has a troubled relationship with his father, Ron Rifkin which was well crafted and moving. And a relationship with the Afro American receptionist, played by Nia Long which lacked the electricity to make it real. There's a cameo appearance of Ben Affleck as one of the brokers, but he is obviously just in this movie to give it a little star appeal.

The script is fast paced, and well developed, although I didn't quite understand all the stock broker terms. I didn't need to though; knew it was all a scam. There's also some Jewish-Italian ethnic jokes that seemed superfluous to the plot, especially since characters to whom they were directed seemed to be just as WASP as everyone else.

For pure entertainment, though, and a caustic look at this rather obscene interpretation of the American dream, check out this lively and interesting video.

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