Boiler Room (2000)

More than Vin Diesel to like about it...

By Yahoo! Shopping User  May 31, 2006

Pros: Superior performance by the lead role, great cast, cool music

Cons: Insignificant; see review

The reason I rented this film was because it had Vin Diesel in it. Incidentally, he’s listed second in the acting credits, but I think Nicky Katt, who played Greg, should be listed second, as he had a bigger role and more lines. The story takes plac...e in New York City. The film is basically a flashback, which is narrated by Ribisi, who does have a good narrating voice. In the first scenes when they are in the hotel, as it shows the various brokers, I am surprised by the number of actors I’ve seen before. Anyway, a few things I especially liked: When Seth (Ribisi) is driving down the highway, a city lover will get happy. They show things like the busy-ness of the streets and the plethora of buildings; the only thing was, as would be with most Americans I’m sure, the presence of the Twin Towers in the skyline is painfully obvious (the movie came out in 2000). Just tugs on the heartstrings a little bit. When he gets on the smaller roads, there’s a royal blue Porsche parked on the side of the road at one point. I wonder if it was meant to have significance, especially pertaining to where we see it in the plot progression. Also in this set of scenes, the music is very similar to the song “Regulate” from Above the Rim (1994). Then when he gets to his destination, he does a double take and has to take the “Jewish Mother on Board” sign off of the window; I thought this was funny not only because of what the sign said but also because I would have done that too - I always give my baby a once-over before I leave it. Seth’s dad is a federal judge. Why did the writer(s) give him this occupation? One reason is because it emphasizes the degree to which Seth’s running a casino and then being involved in white collar crime strains the father-son relationship. It also increases the weight of the potential ramifications for Seth’s father after offering to get involved by attenuating Seth's risk of getting caught, and accordingly also of Seth’s sacrifice in demanding his father be “let out the back door” in return for his turning State’s evidence. Ribisi’s performance in this particular endeavor throughout the movie (trying to earn his father’s respect and seeking his love) is outstanding. When Seth first views the room where the brokers make their calls, a reference is made to “taking the sixth train to Fulton.” I think perhaps enough people might not know what he’s talking about that the reference might better have been left out. But he does say “Wall Street“ after it, and it‘s a small moment anyway. There is a scene where Jim (Ben Affleck) lectures the guys on the quality of the suits they’ve been wearing, and he says a phrase I liked: “level of aesthetic professionalism.” I never thought of it that way. The main “schmuck” the audience comes to feel sorry for is Seth’s “customer” Harry Reynard (Taylor Nichols). Harry's supervisor is played by the same woman who played Beatrice, Edgar’s wife in MIB (Siobhan Fallon). I had to chuckle when I recognized her. As for the ending, I feel like it would have been much more complete had they used scenes from both the original ending and the one that made the cut. It would have been easy to combine them and still keep the flow. But I can forgive them since the original ending was included in the deleted scenes at least. In summary, really the only caveat I have is that since most of us agree that money IS the root of all evil, and since Jim (Affleck) stresses that it’s not (which pretty much goes along with the whole mindset of JT Marlin), some might find it a task to be open-minded about just enjoying this movie, especially if one is not especially fond of taking on a willing suspension of disbelief to do so. Other than that and the fact that the "f" word is used about a hundred times too many, it’s pretty decent. Read more Less