The Boost

i may be overrating this, but the premise of woods getting addicted to coke is tailor-made for some gleeful pulp, and i was blindsided by how desperately sad and earnest it turned out to be. it's an actor's film more than a director's (woods was born for this role, and young holds her own), but given that the real drug here is the dream promoted by reagan's america, there's something accidentally subversive in having the rot bubble up from beneath a quintessential '80s TV-movie aesthetic.

The toxicomania of the American Dream. Interesting ideas and a good performance by James Woods undermined by some weak dialogue and a script that needed work.

An interesting (and rare) look into the motivation of drug addiction. Woods is perfectly cast as the wired salesman who can never quite prove himself enough. Sean Young is surprisingly warm as his loving wife.