Boiler Room (2000)

Director:

Ben Younger

Writer (WGA):

Ben Younger (written by)

Release Date:

18 February 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama | Crime

Tagline:

Where would you turn? How far would you go? How hard will you fall?

Plot:

A college dropout gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm, which puts him on the fast track to success, but the job might not be as legitimate as it sounds.

Plot Keywords:

Judge | Casino | Stock | Investment | Stock Broker

Awards:

1 win & 7 nominations

Cast

Giovanni Ribisi	...	Seth Davis
Vin Diesel	...	Chris Varick
Nia Long	...	Abbie Halpert
Nicky Katt	...	Greg Weinstein
Scott Caan	...	Richie O'Flaherty
Ron Rifkin	...	Judge Marty Davis
Jamie Kennedy	...	Adam
Taylor Nichols	...	Harry Reynard
Bill Sage	...	FBI Agent David Drew
Tom Everett Scott	...	Michael Brantley
Ben Affleck	...	Jim Young
John Griesemer	...	Concierge
David Younger	...	Marc
Herbert Russell	...	Kid (as Russell Harper)
Mark Webber	...	Kid

MPAA:

Rated R for strong language and some drug content.

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Russian | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB (DVD rating) | Argentina:13 | Denmark:15 | France:U | Germany:12 | South Korea:15 (original rating) | South Korea:18 (DVD rating) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #36838) | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Garden City, Long Island, New York, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

In the scene where Chris (Vin Diesel) and Seth (Giovanni Ribisi) are waiting outside Greg's (Nicky Katt) house, we never see the car move or get turned on. Before they shot the scene Ben Affleck was sitting in the car, listening to music. He accidentally took the car keys home with him. They absolutely had to shoot the scene that night and couldn't find Ben. They shot the scene with the car where it is and lit up the house so there wouldn't be a reflection of the camera and crew.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Michael is talking to the room full of brokers to tell them about the party, his tie pin is alternately closed/open between shots.

Quotes:

Greg Weinstein: Hang up. Hang up the phone.
Seth Davis: Thank you. That's nice for you to do that for me.
Greg Weinstein: First of all, there's gonna be a lot of these regardless of how good you are but you happen to suck big fat ass rhinoceros dick.
Seth Davis: Well, thank you. That's confidence inspiring.

Movie Connections:

References Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Soundtrack:

Ma Dukes

"Look at the smile on my face ... ear to ear, baby!"

Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi) is a young man who would like to make a fortune without having to work too hard for it. His entrepreneurial spirit - he runs an illegal casino out of his apartment - catches the attention of the recruiters at a small-time brokerage firm; they promise him he can make a lot of money in a short amount of time. However, the very abundance of money at this firm is a sign that things are too good to be true.

A truly entertaining picture that clearly aspires to be a junior version of Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" - some of the characters here actually have entire clumps of dialog from that movie memorized. To make my point clear, there were actually long stretches where I wasn't checking my watch. It really did hold my attention.

It's a good showcase for a talented young cast; Vin Diesel, who proves here he can play more than just action heroes, has a great scene where he closes a sale on the phone. Nia Long, as a romantic interest for Seth, looks great and offers a nice counterpart to the aggressively macho male characters in the film. And Ben Affleck pops up every once in a while to yell invective at the hapless newcomers to the firm.

I *was* a little put off by the (very) liberal, gratuitous use of the F-word; do these characters ever have foul mouths!

Overall, though, this *is* a good film!

I gave it eight out of ten.