Gordon Gekko spent a decade in jail due to his habitual insider trading during the late eighties and early nineties on Wall Street. However, he writes a book about his experience and the pending problems with the economy, and he finds himself back in the spotlight. He also finds himself getting attention from Jacob Moore, a stock trader dating Gekko's daughter, Winnie. Jacob asks if Winnie wants to reconcile with her father, but she wants nothing to do with him. When the bank Jacob works for is denied a bailout, causing Jacob's mentor to commit suicide, Jacob turns to Gekko for advice. Gekko tells Jacob that Bretton James, the head of a rival firm, helped deny the bailout by spreading nasty rumors, Jacob wants Gekko's help in destroying Bretton's company in revenge. Gekko agrees to help Jacob, but only if Jacob can get Winnie to agree to mend their relationship and start fresh. In order to get close to Bretton, Jacob grabs his attention with some rumor-spreading of his own, and Bretton takes the bait, tucking Jacob under his wing. Jacob tries to use this alliance to his own advantage, attempting to get Bretton to invest money into Jacob's passion project, fusion energy research, but when the shifty Bretton decides to back out when the fusion research needs him, Jacob is left between a rock and a hard place: does he try to further ally himself with his enemy... or does he trust the greedy Gordon Gekko?
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Best part of story, including ending:
This film is an all-around mess. Its character don't have actual personalities, they are merely vessels for its writer, Oliver Stone, to rant about Wall Street in all its various forms.
Best scene in story:
The first scene, Gekko's release from prison, in which he is handed an ultra-large cell phone from the late eighties, is the film's one moment of wit.
Opinion about the main character:
Jacob is as greedy as Gekko, and he is absolutely willing to ignore the desires of his loved one just for the sake of potentially earning a little more cash.
