Boiler Room (2000)

A college dropout, attempting to win back his father's high standards he gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm, which puts him on the fast track to success, but the job might not be as legitimate as it once appeared to be.

Director:

Ben Younger

Writer:

Ben Younger

Stars:

Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long

1 win & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Seth Davis
Vin Diesel	...	Chris Varick
Nia Long	...	Abbie Halpert
Nicky Katt	...	Greg Weinstein
Scott Caan	...	Richie O'Flaherty
Ron Rifkin	...	Judge Marty Davis
Jamie Kennedy	...	Adam
Taylor Nichols	...	Harry Reynard
Bill Sage	...	FBI Agent David Drew
Tom Everett Scott	...	Michael Brantley
Ben Affleck	...	Jim Young
John Griesemer	...	Concierge
David Younger	...	Marc
Herbert Russell	...	Kid (as Russell Harper)
Mark Webber	...	Kid

Storyline

Seth Davis is a college dropout running an illegal casino from his rented apartment. Driven by his domineering fathers disapproval at his illegitimate existence and his desire for serious wealth, Seth suddenly finds himself seduced by the opportunity to interview as a trainee stock broker from recent acquaintance Greg (Nicky Katt). Walking into the offices of JT Marlin, a small time brokerage firm on the outskirts of New York - Seth gets an aggressive cameo performance from Jay (Ben Affleck) that sets the tone for a firm clearly placing money above all else. Seth's fractured relationship with his father and flirtatious glances from love interest Abbie (Nia Long) are enough to keep Seth motivated in his new found career. As he begins to excel and develop a love for the hard sale and high commission, a few chance encounters leads Seth to question the legitimacy of the firm's operations - placing him once again at odds with his father and what remains of his morality. With homages to ...

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Plot Keywords:

stock | casino | judge | stock broker | career | 

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Taglines:

Welcome to the New American Dream.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language and some drug content

Details

Official Sites:

The Angel (composer) - official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

18 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Les initiés

Filming Locations:

Garden City, Long Island, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,722,884, 20 February 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$16,938,179, 4 July 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema,Team Todd

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the scene where Chris (Vin Diesel) and Seth (Giovanni Ribisi) are waiting outside Greg's (Nicky Katt's) house, we never see the car move or get started. Before they shot the scene, Ben Affleck was sitting in the car, listening to music. He accidentally took the car keys home with him. They had to shoot the scene that night, and couldn't find Ben. They shot the scene, with the car where it is, and lit up the house, so there wouldn't be a reflection of the camera and crew.

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Goofs

If Jeff hired additional help to keep the casino running full time, Seth would have already known about it because the casino is in his apartment, he still has to go in and out when the casino was open.

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Quotes

Greg Weinstein: [during Seth's orientation] These are the client cards, these are our leads every one of these people buy stock, your job is to call them and get them interested in the firm, you're not actually selling stock but you're selling them a "dream" so get them "wet", a month from now a senior broker will call them back with an idea,
Seth Davis: wait so who are these people?
Greg Weinstein: they're average clients, forty five years old from the Midwest one hundred fifty thousand dollar income one million net, has a local broker ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

At the start of the film, the New Line Cinema studio logo features the faces from various U.S. Dollar bills, and the studio fanfare music uses a hip-hop "scratch" sound effect.

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Connections

References Charley Varrick (1973)

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Soundtracks

Impress the Kid
Written by Slick Rick and Shampalla Everett
Performed by Slick Rick
Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Special Markets

User Reviews

These Guys Can Act!

The large and well-selected cast turned in very powerful performances. They crafted a convincing range of emotions, from cunning cut-throat manipulators of their clients' personal wealth during office hours, to brief examples of their "boys will be boys" shenanigans after hours. The story line is built completely around their personal financial greed, the hapless victims they scammed to realize it (with the greatest focus on one of them), and a well-sustained sense of mystery that plants seeds of possibilities along the way. The ending was not at all predictable; it could have gone in any of several directions. The viewer gets the impression that if these predators could yank even the last remaining penny out of a client on his (they targeted males) deathbed, they'd gleefully do so and view it as a major coup giving them full bragging rights. There's a hint of information about how legitimate stockbrokers earn their credentials and that was enlightening. The romantic angles are minimalized and that serves to benefit the film. The language is consistently coarse, but certainly seemed realistic for the characters' ages, their business sector and their work ethic. For everyone who enjoyed "Glengarry Glen Ross," "Wall Street" (both of which are alluded to in the film), or even more appropriately "The Crooked E: The Unshredded Truth About Enron," this feature will really score a bulls-eye.