Review: Billionaire Boys Club

What does Billionaire Boys Club have to say about how greed can warp the mind and corrode the soul? Not much by the look of things but, at the very least, it provides an opportunity for a group of rising stars to get their Wall Street via Bret Easton Ellis on.

Previously recounted in a 1987 television miniseries, the film revolves around college mates Joe Hunt (Ansel Elgort) and Dean Karney (Taron Egerton), who team up to form an investment club. With Joe's brain and Dean's connections, Dean believes they can own this town. And own Los Angeles they soon do as they lure in the sons of the city's richest men to invest in gold, promising a 50 percent return. The secret to being rich, Dean shares via voiceover, is not about the money but respect, how people see you and how you see yourself. For these young men happily living in their fathers' shadows, investing in the Billionaire Boys Club is a way of asserting their independence and doing their own thing.

For Joe and Dean, neither of whom were born into privilege but are well-acquainted with it, the inclusion into the lifestyles of the rich and famous is a heady and exciting experience. Suddenly it's life behind the velvet ropes, beautiful girls, fast cars, and fabulous homes. Investments from the young turks' friends and families pour in, a huge account is snared from Beverly Hills high roller Ron Levin (Kevin Spacey), and it seems nothing but blue skies smiling at Joe and Dean. Yet the second Joe posits the BBC's "Paradox Principle," wherein reconciling one's perceptions renders the idea of right and wrong relative, the alarms start going off.

Indeed, once Joe presents a loss as a profit, whatever boundaries he may have had begin to blur into nothingness. If fraud and mendacity are on the table, then murder can't be far behind. It should be a compelling story and every so often it is, but there's something not quite there about Billionaire Boys Club. It skims the surface rather than exploring the morally murky waters into which Dean and especially Joe willingly wade. Part of the problem lies in the script by director James Cox and Captain Mauzner, but it also resides in the performances. Egerton vibrates an engaging hustler's energy, but Elgort remains vapid throughout, unable to fully convey the desperation that drove Joe to commit his crimes.

The rest of the cast are fairly indistinguishable. Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd and Suki Waterhouse, as the designated romantic interests, are wasted, though Roberts at least makes a memorable entrance in a Pris-inspired look. Spacey delivers his usual brand of silky smarm and the film is all the better for it though, given the allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against him since the film's production, his involvement may well be downplayed by the producers. In a nifty bit of casting, Judd Nelson, who portrayed Joe in the 1987 miniseries, plays Joe's father in the film.

Billionaire Boys Club

Directed by: James Cox

Written by: James Cox, Captain Mauzner

Starring: Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irvine, Cary Elwes, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Suki Waterhouse, Judd Nelson, Bokeem Woodbine, Rosanna Arquette