Billionaire Boys Club, written by James Cox and Captain Mauzner, directed by the former

Billionaire Boys Club, written by James Cox and Captain Mauzner, directed by the former

It is interesting to see Kevin Spacey back in action, if surprising.

Presumably, they had filmed this motion picture before the harassment cases, the scandals surrounding celebrities, including the star that has the role of the villain in BBC – BBC used to stand for British Broadcast Corporation – and other things in porn terminology – but for this feature, it has another significance.

Ridley Scott has taken extreme action when he learned about the alleged nefarious activities of the evil lord of his All the Money in the World, using the veteran Christopher Plummer in the role of the infamous J. Paul Getty, to erase Kevin Spacey from the picture.

There was a lot of hype surrounding this move, which resulted in an Academy Award nomination for Plummer – the oldest to get this type of recognition- but not much in the sense of improved quality of the film, which is rather forgettable.

That in spite of even more buzz, surrounding the pay of the female star, a measly eighty dollars per day or so, for the extra work needed to re shoot scenes in which Spacey needed to disappear, as opposed to in excess of a million dollars for the same activity, in the case of the male star.

Granted, he donated in the meantime that pay to public causes…was it for MeToo?

Billionaire Boys Club is an entertaining film, surely much better that the usual summers fare, with Avengers, vampires and Fast and the Furious 27.

A group of ambitious, greedy, white, perseverant, brave, reckless, resilient, addicted to drugs and money young men set up an enterprise, The BBC, to make incredible profits, with lightning speed.

The under signed can testify that it is not impossible to multiply the investment, in a very short time, without a Ponzi scheme, under the most auspicious circumstances, such as the Fall of the Berlin Wall

In our part of the world, at the end of communism, there were a myriad of opportunities, given the post-apocalyptic desert left by the crumbling of a system that starves and oppresses the people.

Therefore people went to Germany, Turkey and other nearby functional market economies and brought back canned food, television sets, second hand cars, video tapes and recorders…almost anything for the empty shelves of stores back home, multiplying the investment if not always – we had car trouble, crooks selling us damaged goods in…Germany – most of the time.

The Billionaire Boys could do about the same thing in…Los Angeles, California!

They bought German super cars, BMW M5 – if the model is correct – for around ten thousand dollars, in order to sell them with seventy or eighty thousand dollars in a market where the model was unavailable and people wanted to have it.

Having said that, this sort of opportunity was rare, besides, the villainous Ron Levin aka the resurrected (?) Kevin Spacey is not interested in such small deals; he has a different standard, aspiring for colossal sums of money.

Joe Hunt seems to be the hero or antihero of this motion picture, a complex character who has Character Strengths – as identified by Positive Psychology – such as: courage, vitality, curiosity, perseverance, and creativity, while lacking other crucial ones – prudence, humility, self-regulation, modesty, fairness and perspective.

Dean Karny is his friend – for the first part, and then becomes the most dangerous foe perhaps- and a complicated young man, although his negative side seems to be more prominent than the bright, honest, positive one.

Dean approaches his former colleague Joe with the proposition that he uses his intelligence in a more profitable endeavor, given as the latter is involved at that stage in rather futile transactions.

The aforementioned import export frame is worked out, with excellent results that encourage the partners to envisage much more substantial riches, once they get the capital to invest in gold and other supposedly profitable assets.

It is however the “financial engineering” that dominates, would take the high ground, for the import of German luxury models would provide only so much activity and profit, other venues need to be explored and identified to keep benefits rolling in.

They meet the flamboyant, outré Ron Levin, supposedly a high roller, a man with extravagant tastes, a showing off manner that seemed to be based on considerable wealth.

At a restaurant where the associates meet with other former colleagues who are supposed to and eventually do invest in the BBC, Ron Levin sends a bottle of extremely expensive wine and when the issue of the cost of such a gift and meals at Spargo is discussed, the exotique figure states that he spends $ 10,000 on a dinner ordinarily.

He is seated with Andy Warhol at the table and one or both make alluring comments towards Joe Hunt.

The latter is attracted, eventually becomes involved with someone from the art world, although a female, called Sydney Evans, who works in a gallery, where she has to suffer abuse from the eternally domineering male boss.

The BBC makes efforts to attract capital, from the former school colleague, who speak with their parents and their friends about the fifty per cent astonishing return on investment obtained in just a matter of weeks.

They even offer sometimes the check with the return, but those who have placed their money are so dazzled, mesmerized by this phenomenal profit, made with incredible speed decide to continue.

Some, if not most place in their retirement funds, the college funds, taking a second mortgage on their respective houses, which means taking an irresponsible risk, just on the assumption that the young investors would keep returning otherworldly profits.

Ron Levin meets the group of partners – they are about eight or ten now, perhaps more than twelve – and invites them to take a call from his broker who announces that they have over one million dollars in the bank account of their operation.

They celebrate, party like crazy, use cocaine, acquire an extremely expensive mansion up on the hill, with a breathtaking view, that can be used for gigs and as a show piece that can attract more money…provided the business is growing and healthy.

Alas, the foundation was not solid, maybe we should say from the very beginning, as the protagonists in fact discuss, mentioning quite early that the investors have become habituated with returns of fifty per cent in a very short time.

The expenses are big, for Christmas in the new palace they gather friends, partners, even the son of a Persian prince, celebrating ever more financial successes, translated in money on paper – not much if anything in cash.

Ron Levin gives away Rolex watches – although their manufacturing place is to be determined – but soon becomes the evil figure when his supposed huge investment in the firm is proved to have been a mirage or a hustling operation.

Things Fall Apart from here, although on spoiler alert grounds details will be withheld, the partners need to find new investors – like in all Ponzi schemes – and they think of the Persian prince, maybe he will provide Resurrection…

Insha’Allah.