"Boiler Room" starts off extremely well, and whilst the cover will immediately get you thinking of Wall Street, this turns out to be a rather patchy and half-baked attempt at a recreation of a lifestyle - unfortunately, the lifestyle isn't shown very well, and this is where the film falls a little flat.
A pretty decent cast (albeit a relatively underdeveloped one) do what they can with what is given to them - at various points of the film, you will question what kind of a movie this is. Whereas Wall Street was able to pull off a romantic side, a dramatic side, a comedic side, a political and economic side, and a dysfunctional side, "Boiler Room" is able to do no such thing. At the end, we realise that the film has bit off so much, that it could only present a half-baked story regarding each of these separate avenues, whereas it would have been much better alleviating certain avenues (eg, potential romance) and instead focus on showing the high life, and thus what is tempting our protagonist.
Vin Diesel is quite good in his limited scenes (once more, key characters and relationships were severely underdeveloped, and we have literally no care for what happens to these people). Ribisi is excellent in scenes that challenge him. Nia Long, honestly, doesn't seem to serve much purpose, but makes do with what's presented to her.
Ultimately, you don't really know what to make of this film - whilst you will enjoy many of its parts, it is difficult to really get a grasp on what the film is trying to say, as you get the impression that it may be trying to say SOMETHING. What that something is, is very indiscernible, and is testament to the early stages of the filmmaker's career. Whilst talent is evident in some of the facets explored, this film didn't understand its priorities - it could never be Wall Street, yet it tried to be, and in doing so focused on too much without giving any real development or depth to any one particular part of the story.
A decent effort, but a patchy one - you really won't get anything out of this, but it's worth renting out anyway - just for those few nuggets of gold you see in what is otherwise a pretty ordinary little rock.
A pretty decent cast (albeit a relatively underdeveloped one) do what they can with what is given to them - at various points of the film, you will question what kind of a movie this is. Whereas Wall Street was able to pull off a romantic side, a dramatic side, a comedic side, a political and economic side, and a dysfunctional side, "Boiler Room" is able to do no such thing. At the end, we realise that the film has bit off so much, that it could only present a half-baked story regarding each of these separate avenues, whereas it would have been much better alleviating certain avenues (eg, potential romance) and instead focus on showing the high life, and thus what is tempting our protagonist.
Vin Diesel is quite good in his limited scenes (once more, key characters and relationships were severely underdeveloped, and we have literally no care for what happens to these people). Ribisi is excellent in scenes that challenge him. Nia Long, honestly, doesn't seem to serve much purpose, but makes do with what's presented to her.
Ultimately, you don't really know what to make of this film - whilst you will enjoy many of its parts, it is difficult to really get a grasp on what the film is trying to say, as you get the impression that it may be trying to say SOMETHING. What that something is, is very indiscernible, and is testament to the early stages of the filmmaker's career. Whilst talent is evident in some of the facets explored, this film didn't understand its priorities - it could never be Wall Street, yet it tried to be, and in doing so focused on too much without giving any real development or depth to any one particular part of the story.
A decent effort, but a patchy one - you really won't get anything out of this, but it's worth renting out anyway - just for those few nuggets of gold you see in what is otherwise a pretty ordinary little rock.