He is a computer geek, a dork, in other words - a decent guy.
Where, now that we need them, are the wise men and women who should have risen
from the Boomer generation to advise and consult on the financial crisis? They
are banging on the door of the retirement industry; and if no one answers, they
will break it down by their sheer numbers and their will. Our institutions were
rocked by the impact of that ambitious generation, and yet it has produced
markedly few financial leaders of national stature.
"The Good
Guy" is about the Little Yups, children of the Boomers now flocking to Wall
Street in spite of "the troubles." They are certain they can absorb a chunk of
the money that floats so freely through the downtown air. This story presumes
greed and self-absorption and offers up a startlingly empty headed group of
strivers.
At Morgan and
Morgan (no one said this movie is not obvious) the sales desk culture has
certain iconic benchmarks: golf, the upper east side, sexual power, women as
objects and absolute comfort in the nightlife of Manhattan bars. Alcohol is the
lubricant that makes it work. You must love strip clubs (the petting zoo). You
must know how to construct your nights. Tommy, head of the sales desk, says of
his boss Cash, "He has nothing to show for his life) but a bad marriage and an
awesome set of golf clubs."
Tommy (Scott
Porter) promotes Daniel (Bryan Greenberg) to be his understudy. You might wonder
why. Daniel, though a graduate of Princeton and a veteran of two years in the
Air Force, is inexplicably shy. He is a computer geek, a dork, in other words, a
decent guy. His colleagues refer to him as "honest" in the pejorative sense. And
then the light goes on: Tommy will mentor Daniel, sculpt him in his own image,
and he will own his loyalty.
Will Daniel
have the smarts to see this and the guts to turn away? Will he fall in love with
Tommy's bookish girlfriend Beth (Alexis Bledel)? Will Tommy pay the piper? Will
we believe that even Beth and Daniel, who are cast as heroes in a culture of
greed and ambition, are themselves empty ciphers? On the other hand, if they
were more than that, would they have gone there in the first place?
We can be
forgiven for wishing the movie had said something about redemption or
transcendence, but other than portraying a bunch of mean, drunk dealmakers, it
offers no hope of change from the culture that caused the mess in the first
place. Is it really possible that the Little Yups are sliding right into the
slots of their retiring elders without any doubts at all? If this movie is any
measure of the prevailing winds, Wall Street won't be providing the country with
wise counselors for a long, long time; more likely, it seems, that they will
continue to spend Wednesday nights in the strippers' petting zoo.
Copyright (c) Illusion