Boiler Room(2000)- User Reviews

Its rather funny how you can just smell a movie destined to be replayed on cable channels across weekend afternoons everywhere.
But as it is, Boiler Room holds its own. A lineup of future Hollywood heavyweights blanket this movie with an ensemble cast rarely seen in a movie that focuses so heavily on such a few characters. Most noticeably is the rather convincing role of Giovanni Ribisi as an underachiever struggling to dream of success. Convinced that working on an education is simply wasting time when you could be making money, Ribisi's character opens up a backdoor casino in his home when he gets the offer of a lifetime, the follow his friends in their footsteps to becoming filthy rich stockbrokers. However, when Ribisi learns that not everything is what it seems, his characters struggles to accept that the life he had gotten used to was a sham.
As good as the film is, however, it fails to reach that next tier of greatness. This is so for a few reasons. First, several of the supporting roles seem unnecessary as a handful contribute almost nothing to the plot. Second, the movie could've done a much better job showing Ribisi's internal struggles to hold onto the life he has or do the right thing. You feel as though his character should be a bit more desperate than he comes across as. Also, the movie struggles to anything extraordinary with cinematic style and visual elements. But perhaps the most disappointing thing about the film is its wasted potential. With such an original concept of a film and an even more genuine story, the film had the potential to be a landmark one; one that laid down heavy criticism to the confines of Wall Street. Instead, the film focuses on a small, almost insignificant pseudo-company that is simply scheming people out of their money.