Hot Under the [White] Collar

Boiler Room traces the steps of 19 year-old Seth Davis (Giovanni Ribisi), a college dropout who enters into a success-driven, overly aggressive stock brokerage firm, which happens to be one of the biggest scams in American history. J.T. Marlin brokerage firm recruits money-hungry, twenty-something, want-to-be brokers, who know nothing and want nothing but money.

Seth enters this world of illegitimate, workaholic millionaires not only to make money, but more importantly to gain the approval of his father. Quiet and submissive, Seth enters into J.T. Marlin and is quickly transformed into a quick-tongued, smooth-lying, money-swindling machine. Wearing nicely pressed suits and holding cash in hand, Seth waits eagerly for his father's elusive approval, and yet this attempt to gain respect from his father soon proves fatal.

Something about the firm begins to puzzle Seth: Why is the commission so high? How do so many of his colleagues become millionaires in so short a time? Why do the customers fall into economic ruin one after another? The truth leaves Seth morally bankrupt.

This depiction of ruthless ambition and idolatry of wealth portrays the economic frenzy of the 1990s. Not only does this movie convey the obsession with the quantity of wealth (and the ignorance of how to use and enjoy it), but also the speed at which money is gained and lost. Condemning the money hungry stockbrokers for losing their values, morality,and their very selves to wealth, this movie shows the emptiness and danger when money becomes an object of worship.

Seth, working under Greg (Nikky Katt), is the target of envy when he begins to close more accounts than his supervisor. This seemingly supportive manager quickly turns into an arrogant and jealous monster as he sees Seth beginning to succeed. Seth loses his way, falling for the secretary of the firm, Debbie (Nia Long), and gradually becomes the agent of ruin in the lives of his customers.

Yet, even as he loses his sense of right and wrong, Seth never loses his respect and loyalty to his father. Even in this most corrupt of businesses, Seth never waivers in his love for his father, and this is perhaps the crux of the movie. Past the absurd money swindling, the corrupted dealings and the painful betrayals, Seth stands as a figure on the brink of manhood, having to decide between truth and deception, honor and cowardice, loyalty and self-vindication.

This film, written and produced by Ben Younger, testifies to the power money holds over the young and ambitious. It documents one of American history's biggest scams through a very real and tenable character. Younger portrays first-hand how a relatively innocent and naive boy is drawn into corruption. But the film gives hope to future generations as this boy triumphs into manhood. B+