Movie Poster

They say money can't buy happiness? Look at the fucking smile on my face. Ear to ear, baby.

# Review

Before The Wolf of Wall Street, this was the original film about pump and dump stock brokerages. In this film, Seth (Giovanni Ribisi), a college dropout, joins J. T. Marlin, a brokerage firm that specializes in duping retail investors by convincing them to buy worthless stocks (pumping) then selling said stocks when the price rises (dumping), leaving the retail investors holding the now worthless stocks.

Unlike The Wolf of Wall Street, which glamorizes the scam and scammers, this film has a much more sober view of the crime, including showing the impact on the victims. The acting is ok and the highlight for me is the tenuous relationship between Ribisi’s Seth and his father, Marty (Ron Rifkin), who is a federal judge. Supporting roles include Abbie Halpert’s Nia, the secretary of the operation, Greg Weinstein’s Nicky, a stockbroker, and Ben Affleck’s Jim, one of heads of the operation. My favourite supporting character is probably Vin Diesel’s Chris Varick, who is intense and probably one of Diesel's best roles.

# Conclusion

A much less rosy view of pump and dump operations.

# Overall rating: 7.5

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