Like everyone else, I saw Wall Street and got a kick out of the one-liners. I wasn't as fascinated about it as some, but I respected the message that there is money vs. conscience element in every job. I get that. But I also got a chance to work for 6 years for J.P. Morgan in New York City (4 of those years actually on Wall Street oddly enough). I was a research geek that didn't get to do any of the fun stuff experienced in that movie. I was so afraid of messing up because I had student loans to pay off. That isn't to say there weren't some good stories about colleagues who enjoyed their time on Wall Street a bit more, but it is never as glorified as you saw in the 1980's film.

Which brings me to the new movie Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps. I can honestly say that this is a film that I'm not really excited to see. The first movie sent the message. I am guessing that all this movie will do is reiterate the money vs. conscience message using more current examples. Oddly enough I came across this article that I thought was interesting. Shows you that life on Wall Street ain't like in the movies. And for the guys that I know who are still there, they are miserable. Some are pulling in good dough, but spending it on the nation's highest taxes, private schools for their kids (NYC schools suck), their ridiculous mortgage on a 2 bedroom apartment, or gifts for their wife who they never get to see because they are working until 10:00 at night. In short, you can keep the movie and keep those NYC finance jobs.

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/how-real-is-wall-street-sequel/?scp=4&sq=wall%20street%202%20money%20never%20sleeps&st=cse
By KEVIN ROOSE
Sept. 27 (New York Times) -- Much of the buzz surrounding the release of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" has been focused on the return of Gordon Gekko, the iconic corporate raider attempting to rebuild his life after a prison stint for insider trading.
But for many young financiers in the 1980s and 1990s, the real hero of the original Wall Street was Bud Fox, the junior stockbroker and Gekko protege (played by a young Charlie Sheen) who used guile and elbow grease to work his way to finance's upper echelons.
In the Wall Street sequel, the role of the bright-eyed upstart is filled by Jake Moore, a young energy trader at the investment bank Keller Zabel (played by 24-year-old Shia LaBeouf) who, like Fox, is forced to confront his conscience while building a career as a dealmaker.
On opening day, DealBook invited five analysts at bulge-bracket banks, all under the age of 25, to help provide a reality check to director Oliver Stone's portrayal of life as a young Wall Streeter.
(Only one analyst hadn't seen the original Wall Street, and all five requested anonymity.)
After watching the movie, we sat down at a nearby restaurant to debrief. A condensed and edited version of our conversation follows:

DealBook: Let's talk about that first scene in the office, where Jake's boss hands him a bonus check for $1,450,000.
Deutsche Bank analyst: Yeah, that never happens.
Goldman Sachs analyst: People in their late twenties might make that kind of money, but no one under 25.
Barclays Capital analyst: And I've never heard of a young guy getting a spot bonus like that.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst: Bonus season is a whole process. You get your number and your performance review, and then the check comes through a couple of days later.
Other than the bonus process, what did Stone's depiction of young finance life get wrong?
Credit Suisse analyst : It didn't show anyone making a pitchbook. [Laughs]
Goldman analyst: The scenery was obviously sensationalized. The trading floor is a high-energy environment, but every single person isn't standing up and yelling all the time.
BofA analyst: None of the transactions made any sense.
Goldman analyst: I didn't really get what Jake did. He was supposedly an energy trader, but he was making private equity investments while trading stocks.
What about the fashion? Do young financiers really dress that well?
Goldman analyst: No one wears pocket squares.
Credit Suisse analyst: Yeah, he'd be ridiculed.
Goldman analyst: Also, there were too many ties.
BofA analyst: We only wear ties when we have to meet clients.
Jake spent so much time with the senior executives outside of work. Did all that face time make you jealous?
Goldman analyst: It's hard to say whether I'm jealous, because I know what being young in finance is actually like. I can't put Jake on a pedestal when I know the pedestal isn't actually there.
Deutsche analyst: His job isn't a real job.
Barclays analyst: Wasn't there a guy at Goldman who made managing director at age 26, though?
Goldman analyst: Yeah, there are definitely star traders who become big in their late twenties. But they wouldn't have the ability to influence the direction of the firm as a whole.
BofA analyst: Maybe if you're friends with the CEO.
Credit Suisse analyst: I've seen [Credit Suisse chief executive Brady] Dougan checking his BlackBerry by the elevator a few times.
Barclays analyst: I mean, I've met [Barclays CEO-to-be Robert] Diamond, but I don't walk his dog or anything.
You're too busy doing actual work, I assume.
Goldman analyst: I thought the percentage of scenes that Jake wasn't in the office was way off.
BofA analyst: Some of the senior people at my firm are never in the office, but the rest of us are there all the time.
Goldman analyst: If I could go trade for a few hours every day like he did, that'd be great.
The movie made a pretty strong argument for ethical capitalism, where you have Shia LaBeouf's character trying to make money by raising capital for an alternative-energy company. Is that realistic?
Credit Suisse analyst: Well, that's why the whole thing was an Ivy League liberal's fantasy. "I'm going to go to Wall Street and solve the world's energy problems while riding expensive motorcycles and having sex with a semi-attractive woman in my TriBeCa loft." [Laughter]
Goldman analyst: I don't think LaBeouf's character was unrealistic from a personality standpoint. More Wall Street people than you'd think have that kind of beneath-the-surface idealism.
Credit Suisse analyst: But they still want a bonus.
Goldman analyst: Right. They still want to get paid.

you mean no blow jobs in the back of limos from the chick who quit NYPD Blue to become a weather girl?? psh what a letdown

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I used to really like Shia Lebouf in Even Stevens. I don't know when he became so unwatchable, but it happened. I don't know how he still gets big roles.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Badrougue might have that answer for you in his post above.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Saw this last night. It was pretty good. The ending was total bullshit... I can't believe Oliver Stone made that ending. Also, way too much crying in this movie. Overall, though, until the end, it was a good sequel to Wall Street.

Sequels suck and this one was no different. This was on Caddyshack II badness level.

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"It's not exactly a rocket surgery." D.J.