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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.

This film has suffered some unjustified criticism.

Woods and Young are really doing great performances, as usual. One criticist stated that it was difficult to see any difference between J Woods "before" and "after", just as with J Nicholson in "the Shining". He may be true there, but taking things not too seriously, this is a believable and well-acted movie. To put it simply: It could have happened in real life.

I wouldn't rate this as a masterpiece, but given the good performances of Young and Woods, it's clearly above average.

Yes, it is an anti-drug film, but if you are against drugs you should see it. If you're pro-drugs, it is even more important for you to see it!

This B grader, I wouldn't be so good to put down. As an anti drug movie, The Boost is very good. So is Woods again in his role as Lenny Brown, involved in tax sheltering, whatever, when there's a big fall and Lenny's out of pocket, his escape from his pressures and woes, his boost is through drugs, encouraged by a friend, where we quickly see Lenny, sink into a solace and bigger dependency of drugs, becoming moody, aggressive, very much the way Jim Carroll went, in The Basketball Diaries, where here, there may be no turning back, after becoming abusive to his girlfriend, Sean Young, who turns in a good performance. The disheartening monologue that Woods delivers at the end is the strongest moment of the movie, although I liked it when his decked his friend, on the account of girlfriend Young, ending up in hospital, with drug related injuries. Woods's anger was frightening, he's such a powerfully convincing actor, he has the ambiguous intensity. I wouldn't say The Boost is anything special, but to kill 90 minutes, this flick is a pretty good one to watch in that time frame.

Most people say James Woods best might be "The Onion Field," or maybe "Once Upon a Time in America," or possibly "Salvador." But this gets my vote for the best work in his career, as he's an absolute powerhouse. He plays Lenny, an ambitious businessman who gets his chance to move to L.A., live in a kick ass house, own great cars, and obviously make amazing money. But then the hole falls through his tax shelter venture and he's left with nothing. But he finds new life with cocaine, the thing he thinks makes him more aggressive and will get him back on top. Instead he and his wife keep heading down, unbelievably down in utterly convincing, strongly developed scenes. The houses get smaller, the money gets scarcer, and Lenny gets more near death. Woods' best scene ever, in my opinion, occurs in this movie, when he violently explodes during a business dinner, totally ruining any chances he had. The way he so quickly says his lines, is amazing. He's incredibly wired throughout the moment and its awesome to watch. The only downside for me is the end of the film, which doesn't lead to a redemption for Lenny. Woods is still as strung out as ever, and has a terrific final moment as he reads directly into the camera the pain his character is still feeling. So despite a downer (no pun) of a finish, this is still great storytelling, with James Woods at his strongest.

I had never heard of this movie until it happened to show up one night on cable. I have always been a fan of James Woods, but never have I seen him in a more convincing role. This is the best rags to riches, then riches to rags flick I have ever seen. Anyone whom has ever been involved in drugs, or has even thought about experimenting with them should watch this film.