Bank$tas (2013) Poster

(2013)

User Reviews

Review this title
3 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
5/10
Kudos to Canada
bkoganbing1 August 2020
I wonder if the problem of crushing student loan debt is prevalent in Canada as it is here. In any event kudos to the Canadians for Bankstas, a comic film about the efforts of a pair of Canadian students to stop a Gordon Gekko like character from taking the debt over and profiting from foreclosure.

Michael Seater and Joe Dinicol are the students like Charlie Sheen going to work for their own Gekko type, Alan Thicke. Thicke will wreck lives like Gekko wrecked companies because he can. He and his entitled son Brandon Firla play it broadly for comic effect.

Romantic interests for the boys are Laura Vandervoort and Grace Lynn Kung who really stands out. Her scenes trying to seduce Firla as a ruse to get him out of the way are hilarious. Firla himself as one of the entited is the last word in sexual harassment.

Student loan forgiveness as an issue that brought Bernie Sanders considerable support in the last presidential campaign. Bankstas is a moderately funny film about a most relavent topic.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
3/10
Bad
itsmikegregory15 February 2014
Bankstas (apparently also known by the title Cubicle Warriors for some stupid reason) is not the worst movie I have ever seen by any means, not even close, but it is still a bad movie that is definitely not worth seeing at all.

It's about two friends who both graduated with degrees in finance who decide to pull a stupid heist to prevent an investment bank from pulling off a fraud involving student loans. Yes it is exciting as it sounds too, they aren't even really robbing the bank or anything. I have no idea why this movie was even made.

The two leads and everyone else acting around them (like Alan Thicke in an especially not funny role) try way too hard to be super funny but they just aren't.

Avoid this movie if you have a pulse.
12 out of 22 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
light, fun film
mariaknight2417 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Bank$tas takes a modern topical story - student loans and the banking crisis - and sets it in the era of those 80's and 90's goofy buddy comedies. The era where you stayed up late sitting in your parent's basement with your friends, eating popcorn and just watching a movie. And it does a pretty good job hearkening back to those times. The movie is about two childhood buddies, Neal and Isaac, who are graduating business school. They're about to jump into the terrifying prospect of finding a job but luckily, they've got a plan: to get into the most prestigious financial firm in the city and impress financial guru and firm owner, Peter Hoss (played by everyone's favorite, Alan Thicke). Although, it doesn't go exactly as planned, Neal and Isaac soon find themselves interning at Hoss & Associates where they are tormented and run ragged by Peter Hoss' lecherous, egotistical son, "Pistol" Pete Jr., played hilariously by Brandon Firla. Of course, the guys uncover the real reason Hoss has hired them – to make them patsies for a bum student loan take-over deal. Hijinks ensue as the boys, along with their respective love interests, lawyer Jessica (Laura Vandervoort) and quasi-dominatrix Diane (Grace Lynn Chung) have to find a way to turn the tables on Hoss.

I thought this movie had some genuinely funny moments and some hilarious lines. It's pretty impressively done for an independent comedy. And as with most comedies of this genre, sure, it's predictable but is that a bad thing? It's the journey to get there that's all the fun anyway.
4 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed