Giovanni Ribisi, Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel, Nia
Long, Nicky Katt, and Ron Rifkin
Generations come and go, but greed is timeless.
It's a message Hollywood has drummed home with alarming frequency
over the decades, including the brand new, 21st-century version,
BOILER ROOM. Don't expect many changes to the well-worn
formula, though; The New York Stock Exchange gets a healthy dose
of Gen-X amorality, but in the end, the more things change, the
more things stay the same.
At least writer/director Ben Younger is up front about
his plagar...er, inspirations. We are barely twenty minutes into
BOILER ROOM when someone references (and quotes verbatim)
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS. Later, a group of young stock traders watch
Oliver Stone's WALL STREET, and they repeat the scenes word for
word. These references seem less like homage and more like desperation;
like other teen-oriented films that are drawn from other source
material (CRUEL INTENTIONS, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU), BOILER
ROOM is both less interesting and less entertaining than its
predecessors.
Which is not to say that BOILER ROOM doesn't
have its charms. The film's greatest asset is the rising star
Giovanni Ribisi, cast as the small time con artist Seth. Under
pressure from his father (Ron Rifkin), Seth gives up his lucrative
illegal home casino to become a stock broker. Why such a change?
One of his casino customers, Greg (Nicky Katt), offers him an
interview at JT Marlin, an upstart brokerage on Long Island, run
by a charismatic leader (Tom Everett Scott). and populated by
legions of young, hungry white boys eager to find fast wealth
and, it is supposed, instant happiness. Seth falls for the firm's
head secretary Abby (Nia Long) and pals around with the chief
headhunter Chris (Vin Diesel), but his doubts about JT Marlin's
legitimacy are strengthened which he begins to notice the shady
and questionable deals happening all too frequently. Three guesses
what happens when the FBI gets involved.
Raising BOILER ROOM above the genre-specific
mire are a trio of strong performances. Ribisi, who first gained
serious notoreity as a young recruit in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, hits
every mark in Seth's transformation from nervous outsider to big-time
player. Critics have already begun to hail this as his breakthrough
role, and there's little doubt that stardom will shine on him
sooner or later. The second performance of note is, get this,
a cameo. Like Alec Baldwin at the beginning of GLENGARRY, there
are occasional "be ruthless, get rich" training speeches
given throughout BOILER ROOM by the gifted Ben Affleck.
As JT Marlin's corporate trainer Jim Young, Affleck gets less
than ten minutes of screen time, but fills each one with sadistic
glee. As the only A-list star around these proceedings, Affleck
manages to blow other performers off the screen, playing his blustery,
crude dealmaker to his full potential. Viewers may find themselves
wishing that his tiny role was, in fact, more a part of BOILER
ROOM than it actually ends up being.
Perhaps the most interesting cast member, however,
is Nia Long as Abby, the firm's secretary and love interest for
Seth. Long is a fascinating and underrated actress, and her acceptance
of the role of Abby is especially surprising. BOILER ROOM,
it should be noted, is about young white turks, and the virulent
racism, sexism, classism, anti-Semitism and homophobia comes racing
off the screen almost every other minute. The film will manage
to offend almost every minority in some way. Long is either making
a political statement, or attempting to rise above the African-American
films she has starred in to date. Either way, it's a smart move,
and Long's natural talent blossoms in these unfamiliar surroundings.
Like her excellent work in LOVE JONES, THE BEST MAN, and SOUL
FOOD, her role here proves that she is an actress of extraordinary
depth and range.
In the games that really white boys play, BOILER
ROOM presents a study of ladders climbers that, in some way,
is as old as the hills. Sex. Booze. Drugs. Bags of gold. But these
boys aren't the amoral fraternity that the NYSE, or director Younger,
would have you believe; they're more like a rowdy gang, barely
above thug status, and the scams they pull on unsuspecting dupes
aren't pretty, masterful, or admirable the way, say, Gordon Gecko
was. Sure, these wrong-side-of-the-tracks kids pulled themselves
up by their bootstraps. But so did Rocky Balboa. The tainted whiff
of quick money is the difference, and in the end, it makes the
characters unlikeable and unsympathetic. Getting their comeuppance
is not only inevitable, it's welcome.
As for entertainment value, BOILER ROOM is a
mild diversion thanks to some noteworthy and exceptional performances.
Still, if taking a walk up Wall Street is your idea of a good
time at the movies, do yourself a favor and rent the Real McCoy.
