Hey folks, Harry here... and I would just like to say that the longer I have thought of my opinion of ThE BOILER ROOM, the more I hate the film. And when the Snot Nosed Pom Pom Slut wrote a bit below about this being a tad "After School Special-ish" I just have to completely agree. You see, Giovanni Ribisi reminds me of those characters in THE DARK CRYSTAL that had their essence sucked out by the crystal thing and you know what? If you combined that with an impression of a heroin addicted Peter Lorre, you might get an idea of the sort of impression that I had of Giovanni in THE BOILER ROOM... and at some level that might be an interesting idea for a supporting character in a film... BUt dear god, not the lead. I hate this film... here's The Snot Nosed Pom Pom SLut to fill ya in the rest of the way....
I don't know what exactly what are the proper expectations to have for a film whose ad campaign is modeled on that of Showgirls. "How far would you go?" "What price would you pay?" or rather, "Will you pay to see yet still another story of corruption and redemption?" In this instance, known as Boiler Room, Seth Davis (the pasty and passive Giovanni Ribisi, who did this kind of angsty turn much better in the little seen SubUrbia), in a desperate quest for his father's attention and love, becomes involved in an illegal stock exchange operation.
The film has an interesting concept, positing stockbrokery as the 'white boy equivalent of selling crack rock.' It is suffused with this concept for much of the first half of the film, purveying beats, rhymes, drugs, dollars, and the seductive nature of power and money. This concept is even reflected in the editing, which jump-cuts and crashes in and out on beat or on scratch. And sadly, once this concept is passed by in favor of simple moralizing, the film loses its steam.
Amped-up afterschool specials like this can be made or broken by the performances, and in this one, it's left to Vin Diesel to do the most with his paper-thin role. He brings such a ferocity to the part that he more often than not elevates his scenes into an interesting drama, rather than playing by numbers the archetype that he is given by the script. The always endearing Jamie Kennedy makes quite an impression with his limited screen time that one wishes he had been given more of a part. My money is on his Adam as the most-quoted character. The same goes for Ben Affleck, who tears at every piece of the screen he can get a hold on for all of his ten minutes of screen time, practically screaming out for more to do. This, sadly, is the regret that the viewer has for all of the characters.
Every person in the firm of J.T. Marlin must have a tale that brought them into an illegal chop shop, and I'm willing to bet that most of them have stories which are much more interesting than that of Seth Davis, who could resolve most of his family problems just by showing a little backbone and standing up to his paternal archetype (and no, that isn't me trying to use big words. The character has no father, he has an archetype: the domineering patriarch who can't communicate with anyone). A case in point is Nia Long, who plays the firm's receptionist, Abby. She remains silent to both the illegality of the firm's actions and the borderline stalking/harassment she gets from Greg (Nicky Katt, in the Cristal Connors part) because she needs the money she makes to support her ailing mother and a child that the audience never even gets to see. If there is a moral dilemma in the film, it is hers. But she only exists in this film to serve as a cipher. She is a black woman in an al! l-white office laden with casual, pervasive, and vicious ethnic slurring, and all she does is become the tacked-on love interest for Seth. She suffers in silence, even during the climax of the film, in which the plot would be much better served by showing what her character is experiencing.
Films have been made on this subject, that of the quest of humans for money and power at the expense of their fellow human beings, that had interesting and fairly new things to say. Glengarry Glen Ross and Wall Street immediately come to mind. Interestingly enough, they must also have come to the mind of writer/director Ben Younger, because he references them both explicitly in the film. And while it is nice to have younger actors trying to tackle that kind of material, you can't help but wonder what would happen if the reverse were the case. I envision William H. Macy, Kevin Spacey, and Felicity Huffman in an Iscove or Isaacson script called Dat Boi Da Bomb. But I digress. You probably already know if you want to see this or not. While director Younger has an interesting eye, I'm left hoping that his next film will start out with more.
The execution is there, the impetus is not.
The Snot Nosed Pom Pom Slut
