Boiler Room

Okay, this is not the technically fabulous movie it could be, and it needed editing, but all the scenes where they show the telemarketers in action are absolutely true to life, and both horrifying and hilarious. (I know--my first job was telemarketing, and while my gig wasn't as toxic as these guys, it was still a grubby job). Because it was filmed over a decade ago, it's starting to look like a period piece, with the boxy cars, the cocaine use, the California locations all screaming "early 90's!" If you can pick it up cheap, and have a remote for fast-forwarding through some of the duller parts (mostly the "plot", I'm sorry to say) you can get some nostalgia, some gratuitous sex scenes, and some fun acting by Joe Estevez as the top cop.

This is one of the most technologically-inferior films about which I have ever commented. No wonder that there are no crew credits. No self-respecting professional would want the affiliation. But I'm not gonna be duped into NOT saying other negative things about this lemon. The audio is atrocious. The lighting is terrible. The script is pitiful. Most of the acting - that which I can hear - is horrendous. Portrayed are a group of scumbag telemarketers and their money-hungry bosses; bilking funds from anyone who they can defraud; preying on the gullible. Authorities pursue them, but, their illicit activities continue sans imprisonment. And the activities are not solely limited to sales. What a bummer!!! A perfect example of how NOT to make a movie. I thought that I could dislike nothing more than telemarketers - until this abortion came along.

Lost in Hollywood is a mislead title. Before we were graced by all those young enterprising stockbrokers at J.T. Marlin in the 2000 smash, Boiler Room, we had another game going in this one, originally titled Boiler Room. Yes it comes across as one of those really cheesy B grades of low rank, with some pathetic moments, bad editing, and mostly atrocious performances, save for of course, Estevez, who looks more like a Sheen, the head of this task force, determined to bring these low life scamsters down, the lowest I've seen in this racket. Truly heartless, but real, let me tell you from being a witness myself. A couple of other good or adequate performances, stick out from the bad ones. You'll pick em' don't worry. The worst actor is the one, a young punk scamster, while in handcuffs, being interrogated, shouts out to L.A's finest, "You guys are fu..ed". What these scumbag telemarketers are selling (we've all heard em' over the phone) are what are Morgan silver dollars, 'spose to be worth a lot, but are fake. They lure, mostly old people, into their scam, robbing them of their savings, with the promise of striking it rich, where they end up paying for it dearly. You've seen smarter, slicker, and more discreet operations in Matchstick Men. One guy who's being indited and under investigation, would you believe, goes straight back to work, after being coaxed by a young budding but more vulnerable ex con, (American Guy Pearce looking) who hates his shitty job selling cars. He partners up with him, in this new venture which of course is Silver dollars. Seeing these old people do away with their savings is really heartbreaking to watch in this movie. It's much more affecting here, than you see in others films of this mould. These scenes are painstakingly real, if sickening. What sets this one apart, from a lot of other really bad B dreck, as that we don't deviate from the story. We're really given insight into how this operation works, with no beating around the bush dialogue, which I must say really got me in, really sticking to the business of the movie, where a couple of sex scenes didn't hurt, either. This business side was really the quality I liked here, that shone out from the rest of the film. When renting it, you don't think the movie will go into this nowhere near as it much as it does, it's cover misleading as really you're expecting more sex to be the deviating factor. How wrong you are. If seeing the other Boiler Room flick, and you really liked it, I think you'll pretty much like this one. Actually I like this one better than the later, unrelated, Affleck one. Boiler Room is frank if too real in it's telling of these operators and who they are, scum. The police interrogators and their frustration is all so real too, as are the raid scenes, again all of this more real than other ones, you see in other movies.

Boiler Room aka Lost in Hollywood can best be described as The Wolf of Wall Street but in the world of telesales instead of stock-market trading.

I found the whole story pointless, with the ending unsatisfying; and while I didn't find the film boring and unengaging, I did find the whole affair a waste of time. I did like the setting and the idea. Unfortunately, like Scarface the story was all rather gratuitous and doesn't seem to have a point other than some vague moral of 'try not to be like these people, ok?'

There really isn't much more to say than I already have. The story doesn't have very much to it. Cool cover art though.