Boiler Room

Reviewed by:
Gene Newman

Despite it’s obvious Afflecktations, Boiler Room is a classic guy movie—a fast-paced ride that rightly pays homage to it’s lineage (that is, the best money movies ever made, Glengarry Glen Ross and Wall Street). Giovanni Ribisi, looking wan and on the verge of tears in the beginning of the film, eventually comes to life as a hustler recruited to join a small brokerage firm whose employees make millions trading fake stock. Even though Ribisi’s Seth wants the quick buck, he joins up to win his hard-assed dad’s approval. (When the father and son make peace, it’s possibly the second most awkward man-hug in the history of movies—the first being Rocky and Apollo Creed on the beach in Rocky III.) When the shit gets thick, the FBI jumps in. You can probably figure out how it goes, but it’s a blast to watch.

The rest of the cast—which plays like Dead Poets Society 10 years later—are perfect as quick-talking, jargon-spewing poseurs. (Watching Ben Affleck, however, mimic Alec Baldwin’s classic “Glen Ross” tough-guy speech left us pissing on the theater floor. It’s as mesmerizing as a 20-car pileup—you just can’t look away.) Buy the women tickets to Hanging Up and head to Boiler Room with the guys as soon as possible.