Glad to see that the studios have moved on from same-y YA (young adult) movies that dominated the cinemas for some 15 first years of current century.
It's not all something related to sci-fi anymore, we've had some good relationship dramas - "The Fault in Our Stars", "Wonder" -, and now there's a solid "greed is good" type drama in the form of "Billionaire Boys Club".
To be honest, it's a bit soulless and occasionally flatlining effort, but still very watchable, if only for the charm of leading men, Ansel Elgort (a revelation in 2017's "Baby Driver") and Taron Egerton (the "Kingsman" series).
There's also a deliciously nasty supporting turn from Kevin Spacey as modern version of Gordon Gecko. But let me clear - his performance, or the movie altogether, is not just a "Wall Street" lite kind of project. Both hold their own.
The project stands on its own feet and doesn't just borrow the "Wall Street" blueprint as countless greed dramas of the last 30 years.
James Cox, the director and one of two writers, is confident about how he wants to play it out - all dramatic tones, intense energy, lots of talking heads in close-up shots etc.
And it mostly succeeds... he just hasn't managed to dig out the most committed performances of his young stars. Which is not a surprise, considering the straightforward but shallow B-movie material they have had to work with.
It all would probably make a noteworthy teen drama series (or even the whole season) on TV, it's just that we've had lot of similar movies doing it better.
I didn't quite understand the ways the get-rich-quick boys earned their money - or pretended to do so. For most of the running time, it never is very clear, concentrating on their partying and boasting instead.
Maybe showing it this way is exactly the point of the story. Still, a bit more straightforward explaining would be nice.
Still, it's good for summer audience. There's enough captivating content to earn its place among top teen soap operas, if there is such a genre.
I had fun, even if I kind of wished it to be shorter by 15 to 20 minutes.
It's not all something related to sci-fi anymore, we've had some good relationship dramas - "The Fault in Our Stars", "Wonder" -, and now there's a solid "greed is good" type drama in the form of "Billionaire Boys Club".
To be honest, it's a bit soulless and occasionally flatlining effort, but still very watchable, if only for the charm of leading men, Ansel Elgort (a revelation in 2017's "Baby Driver") and Taron Egerton (the "Kingsman" series).
There's also a deliciously nasty supporting turn from Kevin Spacey as modern version of Gordon Gecko. But let me clear - his performance, or the movie altogether, is not just a "Wall Street" lite kind of project. Both hold their own.
The project stands on its own feet and doesn't just borrow the "Wall Street" blueprint as countless greed dramas of the last 30 years.
James Cox, the director and one of two writers, is confident about how he wants to play it out - all dramatic tones, intense energy, lots of talking heads in close-up shots etc.
And it mostly succeeds... he just hasn't managed to dig out the most committed performances of his young stars. Which is not a surprise, considering the straightforward but shallow B-movie material they have had to work with.
It all would probably make a noteworthy teen drama series (or even the whole season) on TV, it's just that we've had lot of similar movies doing it better.
I didn't quite understand the ways the get-rich-quick boys earned their money - or pretended to do so. For most of the running time, it never is very clear, concentrating on their partying and boasting instead.
Maybe showing it this way is exactly the point of the story. Still, a bit more straightforward explaining would be nice.
Still, it's good for summer audience. There's enough captivating content to earn its place among top teen soap operas, if there is such a genre.
I had fun, even if I kind of wished it to be shorter by 15 to 20 minutes.