New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

63 11th Hour, The
47 27 Dresses
29 Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
39 Alvin and the Chipmunks
81 Bamako
84 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47 Bella
68 Business of Being Born, The
69 Charlie Wilson's War
64 Cloverfield
30 Cover
68 Delirious
92 Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43 Final Season, The
41 First Sunday
51 Golden Compass, The
49 Good Night, The
65 Great Debaters, The
63 Hannah Takes the Stairs
52 Hollywood Dreams
7 Hottie and the Nottie, The
60 I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
15 In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81 Juno
70 Lars and the Real Girl
47 Lions for Lambs
41 Mad Money
71 Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx Moondance Alexander
53 Music Within
77 Nanking
44 Nina's Heavenly Delights
24 One Missed Call
74 Orphanage, The
30 Over Her Dead Body
39 P.S. I Love You
37 P2
46 Reservation Road
55 Resurrecting the Champ
57 Romulus, My Father
85 Savages, The
78 Starting Out in the Evening
83 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
57 Teeth
92 There Will Be Blood
38 Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32 Untraceable
63 Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68 War Dance
71 Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43 Youth Without Youth

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Boiler Room
New Line Cinema


9.1

based on 34 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Prime

MPAA RATING: R for strong language and some drug content

Starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Ron Rifkin, Tom Everett Scott, and Ben Affleck

A riveting expose of one of the biggest and most lucrative scams in American history -- and a dramatic look at a generation obsessed with the speed of wealth and success. (New Line Cinema)

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Ben Younger
DIRECTED BY:	Ben Younger
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 11, 2000 Video: July 11, 2000 Theatrical: February 18, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	119 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon

The definitive representation of young American men at the start of the 21st century.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Has the high-octane feel of real life, closely observed.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Pays off with emotional dividends well worth the time investment.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Reflects the sensibility of the generation it holds up to critical scrutiny, and it's a cunningly ambiguous act of self-portraiture.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Takes us inside the consciousness and the coded masculine world of a single character.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Remarkable debut feature by New Yorker Ben Younger.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Younger, in his debut feature, is as canny as he is derivative.

USA Today Mike Clark

Shouldn't be overrated, but it's the first film of the year - and it's mid-February already - capable of keeping a grown-up awake.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Energetic, provocative.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Ends up being empty, anti-climactic and overlong.

Time Richard Schickel

Curiously intense, alertly principled, refreshingly uncynical movie.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The idea of the boiler room as a Y2K gladiator ring for disenfranchised youth provides a proactive new twist.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

This pitch-perfect, richly detailed portrait of raw greed works very well.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

As a piece of journalism then, Boiler Room is first class.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Made with confidence that borders on bravado, and sometimes it shows more conviction than it does grace.

LA Weekly F. X. Feeney

You come away from Boiler Room eager to see what Younger will do next.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

A classic Sundance résumé movie -- texturally interesting, bubbling with ideas, and as structurally predictable as a cardboard box.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Boiler Room's behind-the-scenes veracity makes it highly compelling.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Derivative and flawed. But it does throw off a few sparks.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

For a movie that begins so intriguingly, Boiler Room becomes boilerplate all too quickly.

Newsweek Andrea C. Basora

Tries too hard to prove it has a "heart" when the whole point is that its subjects do not.

Variety Emanuel Levy

Begins extremely well as a saga of greed and conspicuous consumption, but gradually loses its bite.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Isn't a must-see, but it's definitely worthwhile.

Slate David Edelstein

If Boiler Room isn't an especially challenging movie, it's still a damn good melodrama -- a boilermaker.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Fascinating -- up to a point.

Film.com John Hartl

Fails to single out one plot thread and make a claim to it.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

First-time filmmaker Ben Younger makes not a single false move when delineating the merciless, high-testosterone world of boiler-room brokerages.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Generates very little heat.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Writer-director Ben Younger has sketched the foreground of this picture but never gets around to filling in the details.

Los Angeles Times Eric Harrison

Tries to make larger points, but it trips over itself just trying to make the small ones.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

Suffers by invoking better films about similar themes.

Film.com Robert Horton

Mostly this film skims by on the surface, its conflict and climax visible from the opening five minutes.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

Blessed with some outstanding performances, among them Ribisi's.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Fast-paced editing doesn't compensate for unconvincing dialogue.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Felix Q. gave it a10:
Ribisi is quite decidedly my favorite actor, so I could be slightly prejudice in my opinion of this one, but I don't think so. Usually I'd balk at watching something Vin Diesel is involved in, but I actually thought he was pretty good in this. There are some unusual faces in there- Jamie Kenedy, Ben Affleck, Vin Diesel- not exactly names I'd have billed together in my mind, but it works. A movie that convince you of it's world- and the technicalities of it- always entice, even when the portrayal of the world isn't accurate. Prison movies that show the more 'durable' aspect of prison (shawshank redemption) and even movies like Sideways that are all about the specifics of the world the characters live in seem to hold allure because it offers us the chance to feel like an insider in situations we would never find our selves, and makes us feel part of a group. Hooray for Giovanni, may he live long and make many MANY more films along the same vein.

Dinu F. gave it a 2:
Usual US movie-wave. i wonder that a movie like this sells in europe.

Frampee gave it a 10:
One of my favorite all time movies. A great story line.

SHeeRaH N. gave it a 10:
This movie is Dope. Awesome as hell. one of my top favorites. all the actors are awesome: Diesel- stick with this old look, not the new. Ribisi- great job here & on the X-Files show. Affleck- i never cared for you, but then i saw this movie & i quickly changed my mind.

[Anonymous] gave it a 10:
I need not say a word............. this is a great movie.

Ryan M. gave it a 10:
This is first-rate cinema!

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Boiler Room New Line Cinema

Boiler Room
New Line Cinema