When  I think of classic films, my mind often wanders to my own favorites:  Auntie Mame, with the indomitable Rosalind Russell; Carmen Jones,  starring Ms. Dorothy Dandridge; and Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey  Hepburn.   For me, a classic  film is one that was made in the early decades of the 20th  century. Then, again, it’s because my mother exposed me to them from a  young age.  I was named after Kim Novak, after all. 
   
 Nowadays,  films released in the 1980s are considered classic. Working Girl comes  to mind.  To me, that’s a classic.  A woman claws her way to the top,  while looking hot.  But putting a microscope on the 1987 version of Wall  Street, I’m hard pressed to find a classic film. 
 
 In that  film, Michael Douglas gives a rousing performance as Gordon Gekko, a  ruthless takeover man full of golden nuggets like “Greed is good” and  “Money never sleeps, kid.”  It is Douglas’ performance that most people  remember. Other than that, the film appeared dull to me. The acting is  sub-par.  Charlie Sheen was still wet behind the ears in his performance  as Bud Fox and Darryl Hannah’s Darien is completely annoying. 
 
 Yet, I’m  sure it makes total sense that director Oliver Stone would make yet  another Wall Street film, because America was just scrambling for  another one in these times of economic hardship. In this one, called  Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (catchy title, huh?), Stone tackles the  near collapse of the financial system and answers a few of the questions  fans of the first film had, all in one tight little movie. 
 
 The Bud  Fox-esque character is now named Jake Moore (played by Shia LeBeouf), a  stockbroker who becomes Gekko’s new puppet. Gekko uses Jake to get to  his daughter, Winnie (Carey Mulligan), whom we didn’t know he even had  in the first film. 
 
 In The  Sequel, screen-writers Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, with characters by  Stone and Stanley Weiser, create a world of chaos and take a hard look  at the state of the economy which my generation, the Millennials, now  have the task of dealing with, and turns our minds to the state of the  economy in real life. 
 
 The  prospects for the new generation in the job, real estate and financial  markets have dwindled considerably compared to those of our  parents. And, just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, the same  people who helped get the country into its dire economic state were  rewarded with a bailout. 
 
 But, like  the first film, we can’t just point the finger at Wall Street, without  pointing fingers at ourselves.  We are the ones who secured loans we  couldn’t pay back for things we couldn’t afford, like gigantic houses  and luxury cars. 
 
 Loeb and  company have a somewhat solid film in that they address the financial  climate of today, making the film topical.  But, there isn’t much of a  plot. The most I could say about this plot is that Gordon Gekko gets out  of jail, writes a book, tries to get close to his daughter and makes a  triumphant come-back, the sub plot being the financial crisis. 
 
 The rest is a  little too neat.  Jake and Winnie have a little dust-up but there’s no  question that they will work it out. Josh Brolin’s Bretton James is a  scoundrel and he gets his comeuppance, because, why wouldn’t director  Stone have the new villain in the latest version of Wall Street get his  just reward? 
 
 Other actors  making appearances in Money Never Sleeps include Sheen’s Bud Fox, who  shows that he’s better than ever after saving Bluestar Airport and  changing it into a private jet company that he’s sold for millions upon  millions of dollars. Eli Wallach is still alive and kicking as Jules  Steinhardt, Bretton’s only boss and mentor.  Wallach’s Jules is a bit of  a nut case, with his little bird noises, but the old man can’t be  counted out just yet. 
 
 Susan  Sarandon gets too minimal an appearance as Jake’s mother and the sole  representation of the real estate brokers who made a good living  flipping houses until the housing bubble burst and she’s left to stop  bleeding her son dry for money and get a “real job”– her words, not  mine. 
 
 Fans of  Michael Douglas’ Gekko in the first Wall Street will consider themselves  treated to more fun with Gekko in Money Never Sleeps. 
 
 Those who  are not fans should wait for the DVD, because it’s more indicative of  the value of the film.  You may not want to spend that hard earned  $10-plus on this one.