Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

tsmith417 It's no mistake that the main character's name is "Penny Wise" because in the end he turns out to be "pound foolish".Here is a man who is a professional telemarketer (I suppose there are those things) who is wise in the ways of the game. He knows how to work a call and what to say to close the deal, which feeds his competitive spirit.But he's not as smart as he thinks he is, because he gets hooked by the wrong people, who are charismatic and charming and convincing, believing their story about a mine that will make them all rich, if only they can get to the riches. He is skeptical at first, but eventually decides it's all legit and signs on. Not only does he eventually get scammed the way he has been scamming the people he phones, but he falls for one of the scammers -- the oldest trick in the book -- men are so easy -- and gets hurt, not only in the wallet, but in his heart.Penny Wise is someone we want to dislike because of his job, but he is shown taking care of his alcoholic, homeless friend, so in spite of his greed and manipulative ways we're supposed to say, "Aww, he must have a heart of gold because he's nice to the crippled guy," but it didn't work for me. A scam-artist is still a scam-artist as far as I'm concerned, so I really didn't have much compassion for him and was glad he finally knew what it felt like to be on the other end of the scam.As far as his telemarketing "skills" went, if he spoke to me the way he spoke to cold-call clients I don't think I'd be having a very long conversation with him. He cussed a blue streak at them, insulted them, and berated them when they hesitated, and they still gave him their trust and money. I found this to be rather contradictory and completely unrealistic.The ending is just plain stupid, because no bank in the world will let just anyone walk in and withdraw money from somebody else's account, whether the balance is eighty thousand dollars or eight bucks, on the strength of only a letter and a marriage certificate.But even though the ending was stupid and the characters were unlikeable because of what they did for a living, I thought the movie as a whole was good. It was nice to see Vince Vaughn in a calmer and more dramatic role than he usually takes, and Ed Harris was perfect as the prime gig mastermind. Julia Ormond was the exception, though, in that she seemed too wishy-washy and didn't come off as strong or as devious as her character should have been.

jehaccess6 I bought the DVD for Julia Ormond. She played a really rotten character in this film, in contrast to her other efforts. I had never heard of Vince Vaughn before, I thought his performance was adequate.This film is like something from an art-house. No attempt to have a hero or uplifting theme. The whole focus is on a group of very nasty people who never hesitate to turn on each other.Other comments have noted the wordplay involved in the main character's name 'Penny Wise'. It must have been an inside joke for the screen writers to lighten their gloomy script.The whole premise of the film left me somewhat confused. The Ed Harris character "Kelly Grant' is fresh out of jail and setting up a new operation in secret. He has to spend a lot of money to equip his new effort. First, he must sell himself as credible to his scammer crew. He flies them to a purported goldmine and equips his boiler room with lots of expensive computer equipment. Then he passes out rolls of cash to the successful scammers. That he can front such an expensive operation fresh out of prison seems incredible.Then there is Julia Ormond's character 'Caitlin Carlson', 'Kelly Grant's' mistress and business partner. What was she up to while her man was in prison? She claims to be seeking a green card to stay in the USA, was she cooling her heels in Britain during 'Kelly Grant's' prison sentence? 'Caitlin' hooks up with 'Penny', initially one of the least successful scammers. She was such a mercenary character, that should have set off alarm bells in 'Penny's' brain.The ending left me confused. 'Caitlin' has drained 'Penny's' bank account and skipped out. The boiler room has been cleaned out overnight and 'Kelly Grant' is nowhere around to pay his scammers their commissions on investments in the worthless gold mine. Did 'Caitlin' and 'Kelly' leave together or did 'Caitlin' take the money and move on free of 'Kelly'?'Kelly Grant' had to realize that word of his betrayal of his scammer employees would leak out. No one would ever work for him again. He could only hope to get enough money from this operation to afford to retire permanently from scamming. This film never addressed what happened in this regard.Real life is full of unanswered questions. So is this film. Perhaps, we are not seeking too much reality in our entertainment. Still, looking at the bleak personal lives of these characters, I feel grateful that I lead a normal life, the kind of people these scammers attempt to prey upon. In the end, all their schemes leave the scammers worse off than their victims.

musicbman Having worked in telemarketing - did some night work at a room very similar to the place at the start of this movie - I feel this film does an perfect job of capturing that atmosphere - it was spot on, the pitches, the types of characters that work in these type rooms to a tee. It captured they types of people - like the Indian guy - had all the right things to say on the wall - he spent so much time putting it up, he probably didn't make many calls - or had call reluctance, the lifers like Gene, etc., the desperation, the call reluctance - that Penny had when not selling for Kelly Gran. Some things I didn't like was where Penny, while working for Kelly Grant and breaks out of his call reluctance, he yells "Chang, go get your FxxxN checkbook and write me an Fxxxn Check NOW!" - I wish they would have been a bit more accurate - no one buys if you try to bully them that way - never works - but if Penny would have been firm but suave, that would have been better. Also, the ending left something to be desired - but overall, this is the absolute best, most accurate depiction of telemarketing out there, very entertaining, good acting. I wish there was a prime gig 2! Anyone out there that knows of any other movie that even comes close (yes, I've seen Boiler Room, Glengarry, Wall Street, Tin Men, Bonfire of the Vanities) - is there one out there? LOVE THIS MOVIE>

dy158 Telemarketeers...just the sound of it makes some of us cringe because not everyone likes those telemarketers to 'harass' us over the phone over something they want to promote on.And when moral questions are being raised about what is right and wrong, it has become a grey area. This is where Penny Wise (Vince Vaughn) has to deal with his own conscience.Scamming people through the phone is what Penny is good at for his job as a telemarketer, and when he was being hired to be part of this million-dollar scam, he was rather being hesitant at first. It's where his conscience starts to collide.Very interesting and quirky look at telemarketers who scam for the sake of money. Vince Vaughn portrayed it that well.Guess I will never see those telemarketers the same way again.