El informador (Boiler Room)

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.

Great movie, I really enjoyed the most of it except the ending. The producer got it right until that last 30 minutes or so. It lost pace and drama, and I was definitely not expecting the movie to end like that.I would have liked to see the policeman coming and rocking the boiler room. I would have also liked to see just how far Nia Long would have gone with her complicated love life. Great movie but pathetic ending !!!!

Back in the old days what Giovanni Ribisi went to work at was euphemistically termed a 'bucket shop' and the practice of holding onto profits and never really paying except in select instances was referred to as 'bucketing'. The regulations put in during the New Deal curbed them somewhat, but the deregulation that occurred during the Reagan Years put operations like these back in business. That and telemarketing did the rest.

Our protagonist in this film is Giovanni Ribisi who's a kid that I can somewhat identify with, one who can't seem to please his rather stern father, Ron Rifkin, who also happens to be a federal judge. He'd like for Ribisi to get into traditional professions like law or medicine, but Ribisi is a child of his era and is on the lookout for a quick buck. That he gets from his current endeavor which is running a small casino out of his apartment. Though illegal Ribisi runs it honestly, but that fact makes no never mind to Rifkin.

One of his steady patrons, Nicky Katt, interests him in going to work at his brokerage house which is not located in the heart of Wall Street, but out on Long Island.

Gordon Gekko would be proud of this bunch, trained by Ben Affleck who lives the Gekko creed from Wall Street of 'greed is good'. But this crowd could never get in Michael Douglas's front door, remember what a hard time Charlie Sheen had in Wall Street. You've got your list of prospects, aka suckers, and you get on the phone and sell, Sell, SELL, but only what you want sold in a given period. The activity drives up the price and then it deflates, but not before the broker gives out. On Wall Street, it's called 'kiting' a stock.

Michael Douglas's Gordon Gekko takes us to the rarefied world of big time Wall Street corruption. These guys are the minor leagues of the same sport. Ribisi as he soon finds out was living more honorably as a casino entrepreneur. But he can't get out mainly because dad seems to have somewhat changed his attitude. And Rifkin's respect is all he wants.

Boiler Room works best during the scenes with Rifkin and Ribisi, their up and down relationship is the key to the whole film. Other performances to watch out for are Nia Long as the secretary clearing $80,000.00 a year because of her insider information, Vin Diesel as a cheery hedonistic sort of bucketeer, and Nicky Katt is a more intense variety of the same breed.

The one to really watch out for is Ben Affleck. It's a small part, but Affleck does wonders with it. Now this is a man who could really have made it Gekko's world and wouldn't have had the trouble that Charlie Sheen had crashing it or the conscience pangs after he discovers what it's all about. Affleck should have gotten Oscar consideration in the Supporting Actor category.

In fact the whole film is sadly overlooked, don't miss it if it is ever broadcast.

I'll sum this film up in 5 words, 'on par with fight club'.

This is a great film, every second of this film is worth 9/10. I'll start with the films flaws. Firstly, the main character is very weak, I'm not sure whether it's poor writing or bad acting but he just comes across as an idiot rather than the deep, flawed, entrepreneur that the film wanted to portray. Secondly, even in the year 2,000 floppy disks were an ageing technology, without giving much away there's a scene where an entire companies data is copied to a floppy disk. The film includes a lot of central characters and doesn't provide any back-story for any of them, this wouldn't be so much of a problem if the central character wasn't so weak but by the end of it you feel as though you haven't seen a single character develop or even begin to understood any of the characters but you have just seen a good film.

Praise: This film is amazing. The film really captures the desires of society and gives them a face. The characters really convey the shallow two facedness you come across every day where they're happy and pleasant until something happens that could even remotely damage their cash flow. Every person you've ever met that wanted to make a quick buck is in this film, the consumerism and lack of social conscience that constantly plagues society is so prevalent in this film. It also approaches the topic of share trading from a much more accessible angle, they don't put much effort into adding the right industry terms or showing scenes of the NY stock exchange - they show the consequences of share trading, the lack of understanding of the average consumer and give you a better understanding of where the money comes from. If you're anything like me then this film takes you on a ride where you are the main character every step of the way until finally you return to life with a much deeper understanding of the desires people succumb to in modern society. This film includes very young appearances by a lot of famous actors, Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel etc. who all pull their weight to give life to the film. I'm explaining the film in a very stale way but I can't help it, it's on par with 'fight club' - you can't explain why the film is good in a way that does it justice, just watch 2 hours of cinema that will improve your quality of life.

Boiler Room is good, but not great. But most people misunderstand the plot or buy into the marketing. This is NOT ABOUT day-traders. It is about so-called Boiler Room brokerage houses ("Chop Shops").

Boiler Room has very little to do with either the GlenGary Glen Ross or Wall Street movies. Yes, it happens to quote them a few times and the "greed is good"/"ABC -- Always Be Closing" themes are part of Boiler Room, but the movie is not those movies. If you really want to know what this movie is about, read "License to Steal".

This movie is basically LtS-lite. You'll learn a lot more about how scrappy brokerages manipulate fake IPOs to make millions for their employees.

And this is not a love story and Ben Affleck is mediocre at best. You might say it is a story about the relationship between a son and father.

To sum up: If you want to learn about day trading, see Wall Street.

If you want to learn about stock chop shops, read License to Steal.

If you want a decent movie with alot of hip hop but basically an unlikable protagonist, see Boiler Room.