The directorial debut of
Glenn Gordon Caron, the creator of the television series
Moonlighting (1985-89), this intense, gritty drama was received as one of the best-ever cinematic treatments of substance abuse.
Michael Keaton stars as Daryl Poynter, a hustling, successful Philadelphia real estate agent who has become addicted to cocaine. He's already got problems, including nearly a $100,000 embezzled from his employer and lost on the stock market, when he wakes up one morning with a young woman dead in his bed from a coke overdose. His company is asking questions about the missing funds, and the dead girl's father is plastering his neighborhood with posters accusing Daryl of being a murderer, so he decides to hide out in an anonymous drug treatment program. There, however, Daryl runs into tough-minded counselor and former addict Craig (
Morgan Freeman), who has heard all of Daryl's lies and tricks before. Daryl also finds romance with an abused fellow addict, Charlie Standers (
Kathy Baker), and understanding with his Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor (
M. Emmet Walsh). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide