Boiler Room
2000 · Directed by Ben Younger
A college dropout gets recruited to a Long Island pump-and-dump brokerage that really wants to be Wall Street. Required viewing on trading desks.
Why It's Cult
Boiler Room is the 2000 film that every finance guy quotes and nobody else has seen. Ben Affleck's "Act as if" speech became recruiting material for the industry it was critiquing. Watch it with The Wolf of Wall Street and Margin Call as a financial-crime triple feature.
The Plot, Officially
Seth Davis is a college dropout running an illegal casino from his rented apartment. Driven by his domineering father's 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 Jim (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 newfound career. As he begins to excel and develop a love for the hard sale and high commission, a few chance encounters lead 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 Wall Street, and Glengarry Glen Ross, it's a decent debut feature for Ben Younger whose script exposes a truly sinister side of an already immoral business.
Starring
Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long
Where to Watch
via JustWatch →
