Bankrolled

BANKROLLED presents a world of overprivileged, self-obsessed young adults. Seaweed therapy, personal trainers, high colonics, green smoothies, and mental performance-enhancing drugs are the trendy, momentary obsessions of a self-involved cohort of tech-obsessed elite millennials who want to "change the world" but, more importantly, make a ton of money. Blas (Ricardo Polanco) is an unemployed coffee expert/slacker who notes that it's less difficult to get into Harvard than to get a job as a barista at the most elite local coffee bar. He loves fair-trade and ethically sourced everything and has no interest in money. His best friend and roommate Polo (Aldo Escalante) is panicking that he's 30 and hasn't yet "made it." He longs to be included in a set of pretentious venture capitalists and tech incubator types who have no interest in him. Polo wracks his brains for what problem to solve, as he eliminates sectors one by one. Hospitality is "saturated" with Airbnb and other apps. Ditto sex, with Tindr, Bumble, Grindr, and Match. Aderales (Fabrizio Santini), who sells performance-enhancing drugs to the tech set, gives them "Ukrainian Ritalin," which sets the pair on an all-night tear of brainstorming, resulting in a polished video presentation of their new app, SignNow. They have no memory of making the presentation, but declaring that "humans are the only charitable species on the planet," they urge that "we should entertain ourselves while we're doing it." The pitch wins them two million in startup funding from Bankrolled, a prestigious venture firm run by bon vivant Gus (Sebastian Zurita), a caricature of egomania in the tech world. SignNow is a shallow bit of clickbait designed to take people's money by adding games and likes to making users feel virtuous. One observer calls it Facebook plus Change.org plus Candy Crush. Posting to thousands every time they give blood or sign petitions to end poverty gives them street cred as do-gooders. Users boast, "I eradicated Ebola," and "I legalized abortion in the Vatican," after simply signing online petitions and posting their good deeds. How will the roommates get themselves out of this mess?