The Boost (1988)
Lenny Brown moves to California to find his fortune in tax shelter investments. When the federal government changes the tax laws, poor Lenny finds himself $700,000 in hock with nowhere to turn. His friend, Joel, introduces him to cocaine to give Lenny that needed "boost". What ensues next is a descent into drug addiction and insanity as Lenny tries to regain control of his life, all the while needing that extra "boost".
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Too much of everything
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
One of the Finest Actors of Cinema History, James Woods delivers A Yet Another Fabulous Performance in 'The Boost'. A dark & depressing flick, that works mostly because of Woods.'The Boost' Synopsis: A real-estate hustler & his wife see success, only to fall deep later-on. 'The Boost' is more about the side-effects of failure, rather than a story of drug-addicts. The struggle & the depression its pivotal characters go through, are very off-putting, as they depict reality. Ben Stein & Darryl Ponicsan's Screenplay, though fairly engaging, gets a bit too serious & disturbing towards the second-hour. Harold Becker's Direction is proficient.Woods is the biggest merit of 'The Boost'. He's so good as a suffering man, that my heart literally went out for him, even after he gives in to drug-addiction. Woods tops himself in here! On the whole, 'The Boost' caters to a niche audience, but if Fine Acting is what you're looking for, then watching Woods's Masterful Performance in here, should top your list.
Muddled, episodic rendering of Benjamin Stein's book "Ludes" stars James Woods as a tax shelters salesman from New York City who is brought to Hollywood along with wife Sean Young by a wealthy business contact; soon, the couple are spending lavishly and doing coke-lines on the coffee table. Cheap-looking, poorly-edited film rests almost entirely on Woods' performance to carry it...but he fails to give his hyperactive nebbish-turned-jet-setter the proper nuances (to say the least). Supporting cast (including Amanda Blake, Grace Zabriskie, and Steven Hill in a lovely turn as James' sympathetic boss and benefactor) easily out-acts the mannered leads. *1/2 from ****
This is epic day by day down slide of a modern desperate character found nearly in everyone of us.I don't understand anyone who gave this movie grade bellow 7. It's high 9 for me. The lead is played marvelously by J. Woods. He is starting the movie on cocaine so imagine how great it becomes when he really turns to the drug. It's also deep love story - it might seems too sweet for someone but it also goes down so every taste is served.I'd like to mention the part in the movie that fully described business cooperation between Arabs and local American elite way before... This rises my 9 to 10.And i did recognize Sean Young played in Blade Runner! She was like cyborg in The Boost too nevertheless this fatality of her might have driven Woods over the edge in his pursuit for success.I think The Boost isn't preachy. It reminds us how fragile human mind is and how little chemistry is required to break totally.
The boost is a DRAMA, but I consider it to be one of the funniest movies ever. Unfortunately it wasn't intended as a comedy. James Wood acts like an ass throughout the movie, giving new meaning to the term overacting. Overacting may not be the best way of describing his performance, but its just so bizarre. The Boost is kind of like an eighties version of reefer madnes, except for cocaine. Just a funny and weird movie.