Put it on the back burner and simmer because this film,
directed by Ben Younger is cooking!!!
From the get go the watcher is brought into the life of
Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi, Saving Private Ryan),
"I didn't want to be an innovator, I just wanted in."
Seth runs a backdoor casino, where his main patrons are
college kids from the neighborhood. Eventually, his
father, Judge Marty Davis (Ron Rifkin, La Confidential) finds out, let's just say he's not too thrilled about the
whole idea. On the contrary, Seth is proud of what he has
accomplished and thinks his pops should at least appreciate
the skills he has to make a business run smoothly.
A knock on the door changes his life. An old friend,
introduces Seth to Gregg (Nicky Katt, The Limey) a clean
cut investment banker from JT Marlin. JT Marlin turns out
to be a telemarketing 'chop shop' that sells people stocks
for companies that don't really exist. The place is full
of brutes in suits that talk people into investing their
life savings and their kids school tuitions' into these
lousy stocks. A Friday, boy's night out, is spent watching
Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" which most of the guys knew
verbatim.
Always craving and needing approval, Seth becomes a broker
in training hoping to impress his dad. Seth is a
combination of cute puppy dog and sexy lips and bedroom
eyes, when he wants to use'em. He and Abby had great
chemistry in the cozy get-to-know you scenes.
Abby (Nia Long, Soulfood), the receptionist, has a killer
smile and a swicthblade tongue with lines such as "Honey
you were never hittin' it", in reply to one of Gregg's
remarks. The girl can take care of herself in this office
full of testosterone. Chris (Vin Diesel, Pitch Black),
plays the broker with a heart, always covering Seth's back
in tight spots with Gregg, who starts to get jealous of
Seth's smooth deliveries with potential 'victims' and with
Abby,an old flame. Jim Young (Ben Affleck, Reindeer Games)
who gives the pep talk or was it an orientation speech,
came off as a bad impersonation of Alec Baldwin's character
in "Glengarry Glen Ross"; he wasn't too convincing (Ben's
getting a little puffy under the chin there).
I thought the film would've been all slick, sleek and slick
again if they hadn't shown how their 'chop shop' scheme was
destroying people's lives. Harry Raynard (Taylor Nichols,
fantastic performance) gets lured into their sticky web.
The combination of hip hop music (Notorious B. I. G., De La
Sol and others), dramatic lighting, excellent camera angles
and exaggerated antics, such as talking on the phone while
under the desk made the film exciting to watch. It really
got my adrenaline going. I found myself thinking about
the "Boiler Room" long after it ended (took a while to calm down.
