You'll find an example of James Woods's most daring and outrageous (some would say outlandish) acting in this 1988 film by director Harold Becker from a Darryl Ponicsan script. Woods plays a fast-rising, sharp-talking salesman, a yuppie on the make with the good life firmly in his sights. Until he discovers cocaine--and then his entire live-beyond-your-means ethos blends with a ravaging addiction that drives his lifestyle strictly down-market. Woods and costar Sean Young (with whom he subsequently had a rather public breakup) explore the wild-eyed outer limits with this particular monkey on their backs, in a movie whose acting-exercise quality usually takes a back seat to the obvious, melodramatic plotting. --Marshall Fine
