Boiler Room (2000)
Director: Ben Younger
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This beady-eyed morality play is set in the hothouse environment of an illicit share-ramping operation, which 19-year-old numbers whizz Seth Davis (Ribisi) takes to the NY stockbroking firm JT Marlin after his father, a stern judge, shuts down his home gambling den. JT Marlin is a quicksilver enterprise founded on the get-rich-quick dreams of its customers and recruits alike. Everyone can become a millionaire here, Affleck's recruiting officer tells the new intake, 'the only question is how many times over.' Of course, other questions arise: Seth's secret affair with his boss's ex, company secretary Abbie (Long); his dad's continuing stern attentions; the customers fleeced of their life savings; and the attentions of the FBI. Not all of this works - the Oedipal angst of Seth's relationship with his dad is unnecessary and close to unbearable - but enough's credible and thought through to mark the film as a praiseworthy and auspicious achievement for first time writer/director Younger. Turns of dialogue ring compellingly true, and the well chosen cast (especially Ribisi) carry the inflections of the drama with some style.Author: NB
Cast & crew
Director: Ben Younger
Producer: Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd
Cast: Ben Affleck, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Scott Caan, Ron Rifkin, Jamie Kennedy, Bill Sage full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 120 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now