Boiler Room

Plot synopsis:
In 1999, Seth Davis (Ribisi), a 19-year-old Queens College dropout, runs an unlicensed casino in his home near the campus, catering to college students. Although he earns a successful living, he is a disappointment to his father, Marty (Rifkin), a New York City federal judge. One night, his cousin Adam (Kennedy) stops by the casino to play blackjack, bringing a rich associate named Greg Weinstein (Katt) along with him. Greg recruits Seth to join J.T. Marlin, a brokerage firm based somewhere off the Long Island Expressway, promising him that he has the opportunity to get rich.
Arriving at J.T. Marlin, Seth attends a group interview and learns from Jim Young (Affleck), one of the co-founders of the firm, what is expected of his work and also how he can become a millionaire. The firm's techniques of selling are through cold calling investors to sell stock, and Seth joins as a stockbroker trainee, having to close 40 accounts and pass a Series 7 Exam in order to begin working independently. The brokers love to quote insider trader Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, seeing him as a role model. He is soon making a good living, as well as winning his father's approval and embarking on a romance with Abbie Halpert (Long), a secretary and Greg's ex-girlfriend.
Eventually, he learns that J.T. Marlin is a chop stock brokerage firm that runs a "pump and dump", using its brokers to create artificial demand in the stock of expired or fake companies, and speculative penny stocks. When the firm is done pumping the stock, the investors then have no one to sell their shares to in the market, and the price of the stock plummets. The FBI agents investigating the firm decide to pursue Seth, hoping to make him their informant.
Seth passes his Series 7 Exam and becomes a broker. He then contacts Harry Reynard (Taylor Nichols), the purchasing manager of a gourmet foods company. Although Harry is reluctant, he gives in after Seth lies that the stock is guaranteed to go up in value; Seth sells him 100 shares at $8 each. When the stock's value drops, Harry calls back to ask why the stock has done so poorly, only to have Seth persuade him to buy more worthless shares. The stock eventually tanks, costing Harry his savings and his family.
Feeling guilty for scamming Harry, Seth resolves to shut the firm down. Marty then disowns him, accusing him of destroying peoples' lives. Seth shows up at his father's office and tearfully explains that he shut down his casino and went along with a highly criminal line of work that he thought was legal in order to gain his family's approval. He then requests that his father help him on an IPO scheme in order to rob the firm of their money and bring them down. Although Marty initially refuses due to the risk of losing his judgeship, he calls Seth the next day, reconciling with him and offering to help with the scheme.
Seth is eventually arrested by the FBI for the violation of 26 SEC and NASD regulations, and is brought into their custody along with his father, as the bureau had discovered their IPO scheme from a tape-recorded phone conversation. The FBI offer him federal immunity if he agrees to testify against J.T. Marlin once all the suspects are brought into court, and threaten to involve Marty in order to assure Seth's cooperation. Seth asserts that he will testify against the firm and provide strong evidence of their illegal practices only if his father is released. He and the agents come to an agreement on this, with Seth being kept overnight only to return to work the next day and make copies of investment files onto a floppy disk to use as evidence. After that, it is implied that he will be free to go as the FBI will proceed to raid the building and prosecute everybody else.
Seth returns to work the next day and goes along with the FBI's instructions. Before leaving, Seth attempts to get Harry's money back. He lies to Michael Brantley (Scott), the company's founder, by explaining that the firm can lose a lot of money by refusing to continue to do business with Harry Reynard, who Seth makes out to be an important prospect at a make-or-break point. Brantley agrees to proceed, offering him shares of the next IPO, with a caveat that he cannot sell the shares until the firm has sold off theirs. In order to sell the shares behind Michael's back, Seth needs a ticket sale signed by a senior broker, something that his direct supervisor, Greg, has explicitly said that he would never do. He seeks a signing from Chris Varick (Diesel), explaining that he may as well "do one thing right" in helping a severely hit investor make his money back, now that the firm will be raided and, soon enough, there will be no future in continuing business at J.T. Marlin. Chris reluctantly agrees, and proceeds to escape the building in an attempt to flee federal enforcement. Seth walks out to his car, deciding what to do with his life now that his ties with J.T. Marlin are finished. As he departs in his car, several FBI cars, buses, and tow trucks enter the parking lot, with agents storming out ready to raid the building.

Tags: violence

Review:
If you're anything like me then this film takes you on a ride where you are the main character every step of the way until finally you return to life with a much deeper understanding of the desires people succumb to in modern society.
This film includes very young appearances by a lot of famous actors, Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel etc.
I liked the Giovanni Ribisi character, who changes slightly through the film, but eventually we see the real side of him, which is great.
Though illegal Ribisi runs it honestly, but that fact makes no never mind to Rifkin.One of his steady patrons, Nicky Katt, interests him in going to work at his brokerage house which is not located in the heart of Wall Street, but out on Long Island.
And Rifkin's respect is all he wants.Boiler Room works best during the scenes with Rifkin and Ribisi, their up and down relationship is the key to the whole film.
Other performances to watch out for are Nia Long as the secretary clearing $80,000.00 a year because of her insider information, Vin Diesel as a cheery hedonistic sort of bucketeer, and Nicky Katt is a more intense variety of the same breed.The one to really watch out for is Ben Affleck.
My friend called people who lived far away so he wouldn't have to run into them at the grocery store.The way the company keeps their brokers hungry is by encouraging excessive spending, such as luxury cars, so they have to make even more money to keep up with the lifestyle.Boiler Room has a group of young actors that all play their parts well.
Giovanni Ribisi makes a good appearance, and Nia Long needs to be in more movies..
Yep , the authors of this film should be immediately named presidents of Harvard Economics Departments for painting a completely real picture of 25year old brokers at a anonymous JT Marlin , where only one rule applies : from now on you are in the world of 'as if ': act as if you were a multi-billionaire,as if you had a 9 inch penis ' , as the sky is the limit , and those selected ,will earn their first million$ within a year , and how - by lying , by selling non-existing stock to 'suckers'or to 'the old and dumb ' .No level of shenanigans , subterfuge, pretense is shied upon , as long as the line is open , and hundreds , perhaps thousands , constantly fed by the Orwellian propaganda of joy , prosperity and progress are virtually standing in line to feed their primordial sin – avarice !
It lost  pace and drama, and I was definitely not expecting the movie to end like that.I would have liked to see the policeman coming and rocking the boiler room.
After a zany, smart hour and a half, they just tidied up the mess as if nothing happened.Ben Younger's film is about a guy named Seth Davis who runs an unlicensed casino in his apartment.
I really liked Ben Affleck here as well and he sure is one sleazebag here.Overall, this is a really good film that was a little hampered by the ending.
But with a smart script, great acting, and a tense atmosphere, this film gives us an interesting inside look on the corruption and greediness of Wall Street.
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.
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 !
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..
In his first directorial offering Ben Younger not only engages his audience but establishes himself, quite rightly, as one of the best up and coming talents in the film industry.Giovanni Ribisi's outstanding performance in Boiler Room is without a doubt his finest hour, an actor who is frequently overlooked and always underrated, Boiler Room gives the world a reason to finally recognise this actors outstanding ability.A wonderful supporting cast comprised of Hollywood talent that would ordinarily be more wooden than Pinocchio, give this film the ability to flourish.
Boiler Room is probably the first time anyone has ever considered for a moment that Ben Affleck is a good actor.Ben Younger is clearly able to motivate in a way that no other director can.
He tries to impress his father by entering a legitimate business, only to find that things don't work out the way he plans.Giovanni Ribisi delivers a great performance.
References are made to "Glengarry Glen Ross" and "Wall Street" which may not have been a good idea since this film is not in the same league, thus highlighting its shortcomings.The big plus for this movie is Giovanni Ribisi, a very low key performance that added credibility to his character and drew sympathy from the audience.
We're expected to believe Seth actually thinks his father, a federal judge (Ron Rifkin), should be proud of him for his accomplishments.While I am by no means done ribbing this film, I will say that it is quite good.
I liked how Younger dares you to care about this robot of a man, then slowly peels the layers away.Then of course, there's Ribisi as Seth, who really eats up the role of a fast-talking, built to sell young gun stockbroker.
Ben Youngers modern day Wall Street story about a young stock broker, Seth Davis (Ribisi) who learns about fraud companies the hard way.
The cast was fresh, i like all the performances here, any film that leaves me thinking Diesel and Affleck were not annoying and actually convincing has done miracles just in that on its own.
An actor I have liked in the past, I'm afraid he is a miscast altogether in this one, unfortunately.Boiler Room references two movies: "Wall Street" and "Glengarry, Glen Ross".
You might say it is a story about the relationship between a son and father.To sum up: If you want to learn about day trading, see Wall Street.If you want to learn about stock chop shops, read License to Steal.If you want a decent movie with alot of hip hop but basically an unlikable protagonist, see Boiler Room..
"Boiler Room" is the first movie since "Kids" that I watched with increasing fear about the implications for my sons.Maybe it was that I was watching it literally blocks from where a good portion of the movie takes place in Kew Gardens Hills, with a packed age and gender mixed audience that could relate to the very realistic locale, including the transportation references to the broker's site way out on the L.I.E., and the very, very blunt NY way of talking ethnic blues and disparagement slang.The movie would be paired well with "Fight Club" as it shows what happens when testosterone in today's society gets out of control, but scarier because it's not a satire or fantasy.
There are some plot points that don't quite work, with the guy's father (DA Morgenthau in yesterday's New York Times decried the legal aspects as ridiculous), but I did appreciate the novelty today of a script that has a guy see the moral light not through the cliché of the love of a good woman (the only woman here is as ethically compromised as he is for similar motivations) but rather of love for his father (reminded me of "East of Eden" a smidgen).Ben Affleck is in the movie for only minutes, but is effective.
Vin Diesel was so good (he almost makes us believe that he's Italian-American though he's clearly something else) that now I'd be willing to see his action movies.Some critics have disparaged that this is just a junior "Wall Street" and "Glengarry Glen Ross" -- but the touchstones those movies as karaoke provide are key to this movie.
Having quit college to run an underground casino out of his off-campus apartment, Seth jumps at the chance to move onto bigger and better things when he is offered a position at an `off Wall Street' stock brokerage firm that assures him he will be making a cool million dollars before his third year with the company is up.
For, of course, Seth slowly learns that all is not true-blue and on the up-and-up in this firm as he discovers that he is indeed involved with a financial `chop shop' whose sole business it is to rip off weak, vulnerable and unsuspecting men looking for a few good investments.What is most admirable about this film is that, as Seth begins to realize the truth of the situation, he doesn't turn suddenly noble and righteous as he might in the hands of a less sophisticated author.
In fact, it is only after he is arrested by the FBI that Seth finally sees the need to do the right thing and to make restitution to the two men whose lives he has truly ruined - a young Wisconsin man whose marriage crumbles after he allows Seth to talk him into blowing his new-home down payment on a phony stock and Seth's own father, a morally upright federal judge, who in a moment of filial weakness, tries to help Seth with an illegal action and ends up getting implicated in the FBI probe as a result.
We see them erupting into fistfights at local yuppie bars with similarly well-dressed members of a competing firm; we hear, pouring liberally out of their mouths, vehemently racist, woman-bashing and gay-bashing comments that solidify the exclusiveness of the world to which they belong; we witness them reciting verbatim, almost as if it were Holy Scripture, lines of dialogue from the movie that has become an emblem for their generation - not `Star Wars' but Oliver Stone's `Wall Street.'And, just as Younger forces us to identify with the hunger these men have for instantaneous financial success, he, even more effectively, helps us to identify with the poor ill-informed schmucks who are at the other end of the phone, being railroaded into making decisions they feel powerless to control.
For its glimpse into the inner workings of boiler rooms alone, the film earns its kudos as a fascinating experience.The outstanding cast is headed by Giovanni Ribisi, who creates a subtle portrait of a young man torn between his better angels - in the form of his own innate conscience and a beautiful young woman who is also a part of the firm - and the bitter demons of a morally bankrupt, value-free grab for instant wealth.
There is literally in this film, not a single character of potential `goodness' - not Seth, not the firm's secretary (Nia Long), not Seth's parents - who is not, at one point or another, forced to confront a great moral dilemma and found wanting.
It's funny that they highlighted two good movies in this film, Glengarry Glenross, and Wall Street.
If you're thinking of watching a good movie about sales, choose Glengarry Glenross, and if you have a yen for something about stocks and takeovers, choose Wall Street.
However the deeper he goes, Seth begins to suspect that it can't all be as good as it looks and is unlikely to be as legal as he had been told it was.It might be the fact that the film actually name checks Glengary Glen Ross and Wall Street but at times this feels that, like its characters, that it has watched these films too many times and has simply added a touch of Goodfellas to it to produce Boiler Room.
Younger does well to recreate the testosterone-fuelled world where money is the only thing that matters and it tends to be this energy that drives the film where subplots on relationships struggle.The cast are a great help, featuring generally good performances despite the odd weak bit.
Boiling Room, a financial crime thriller about stock exchange, is normally not really the kind of movies I would go for as I'm not interested at all in stock brokers, Wall Street and stuff like that.
Boiler Room is a movie with a good story, even for people like me that don't or don't want to understand those financial transactions, with enough action and twists to make it enjoyable to watch.
The main character Seth Davis, played brilliantly by Giovanni Ribisi, a young guy that wants the approval of his father, is torned between doing the good thing and the bad thing.
Ben Affleck hit's a homerun in this picture, A bunch of college grads head out into the world , enter the Boiler Room,, slang for Wall St. East on the Island,, Long Island that is ,, exit 53..
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.
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.
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.
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..
This movie has a good entertainment value so all you little Wall Street recruits, I have only one thing to say: Watch this one, It wont do you harm..
There are a number of great supporting performances too (Ben Affleck, Tom Everett Scott, Nia Long, Ron Rifkin), but what makes the film really work is the writing.
"Boiler Room" is another movie that shows the audience how dangerous the stock market can be for both, broker and customer.
Like some youthful mix of "Wall Street" and "Glengarry Glen Ross", "Boiler Room" does a pretty good job showing the seductive allure of easy money and hustling-as-white-collar-trading.
This movie surprise me.I liked how they use "Gecko"and it shows them watching Wall Street that was cool.The next best movie to Wall Street (Michael Douglas) in the stock market.Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi) drops out of college and stumbles upon a job to be a stock broker to make all kinds of money, everything is going well, and he is doing great,but things seen to good to be true , as he finds out what he's got himself into.With actors such as Ribisi ,Vin Diesel,Nia Long , Scott Katt and Ben Affeck as (Jim Young) some what like Alex Badwin's part in Glengarry Glen Ross similar in arrogant roles.So set the sale and Enjoy!!!!.
The film features a dynamic cast that includes Jon Abrahams, Ben Affleck, Scott Caan, Vin Diesel, Nicky Katt, Jamie Kennedy, Nia Long, Giovanni Ribisi, and Tom Everett Scott.
This film is a great movie that deals with Seth and his goal of winning the love from his dad that looks down upon him.
Great performances from Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck.
With this foundation, it manages to tell a good story.The best scenes in the movie are between Ribisi and his father, played by Ron Rifkin.
I had read that some of the actors actually went to small stock brokerage firms like this one to study up for the movie and that they really saw people acting this way.
Once again I have seen a film that wasted my time.I guess it is just me but I can't see Giovanni Ribisi as the lead by himself in any movie.Ben Affleck and Vin Diesel outshined Ribisi.
BOILER ROOM has Seth working in a small brokage firm in New Jersey, away from the prime time business of Wall Street.
Giovanni Ribisi does a great job as the main character, a man who tries so hard to please his father with a good job.
But the films best performances come from Tom Everett Scott, Vin Diesel, and Ben Affleck.
The good news is that Affleck isn't in a lot of this movie, Ribisi carries the film and I'm impressed.
Good supporting roles by Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel and Nia Long as Debbie, the secretary who shows an interest in Seth, add to the enjoyment.
Giovanni Ribisi stars as a conflicted young huckster, who goes to work for a sleazy brokerage in Long Island - the appeal of the movie is in being absorbed right along with him, into the who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire high of stock trading.
The movie is however blessed with wonderful performances from Ribisi, Diesel, Katt, and Ben Affleck.